Bible in 90 Days
Pekah’s Reign over Israel
27 In the fifty-second year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for twenty years. 28 He did evil in the sight of[a] the Lord; he did not repudiate[b] the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 29 During Pekah’s reign over Israel, King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the territory of Naphtali. He deported the people[c] to Assyria. 30 Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He assassinated him[d] and took his place as king, in the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah.
31 The rest of the events of Pekah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[e]
Jotham’s Reign over Judah
32 In the second year of the reign of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.[f] 35 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord’s temple.
36 The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[g] 37 In those days the Lord prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah.[h] 38 Jotham passed away[i] and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz replaced him as king.
Ahaz’s Reign over Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king over Judah. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David.[j] 3 He followed in the footsteps of[k] the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire,[l] a horrible sin practiced by the nations[m] whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 At that time King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem.[n] They besieged Ahaz,[o] but were unable to conquer him.[p] 6 (At that time King Rezin of Syria[q] recovered Elat for Syria; he drove the Judahites from there.[r] Syrians[s] arrived in Elat and live there to this very day.) 7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent.[t] March up and rescue me from the power[u] of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked[v] me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were[w] in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute[x] to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria responded favorably to his request;[y] he[z] attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported the people[aa] to Kir and executed Rezin.
10 When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there.[ab] King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.[ac] 11 Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus.[ad] Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus.[ae] 12 When the king arrived back from Damascus and[af] saw the altar, he approached it[ag] and offered a sacrifice on it.[ah] 13 He offered his burnt sacrifice and his grain offering. He poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood from his peace offerings on the altar. 14 He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new[ai] altar. 15 King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar[aj] offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.”[ak] 16 So Uriah the priest did exactly as[al] King Ahaz ordered.
17 King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took “The Sea”[am] down from the bronze bulls that supported it[an] and put it on the stone pavement. 18 He also removed the Sabbath awning[ao] that had been built[ap] in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway to the Lord’s temple, on account of the king of Assyria.[aq]
19 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[ar] 20 Ahaz passed away[as] and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.
Hoshea’s Reign over Israel
17 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for nine years. 2 He did evil in the sight of[at] the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him. 3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up to attack[au] him; so Hoshea became his subject and paid him tribute. 4 The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt.[av] Hoshea had sent messengers to King So[aw] of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him.[ax] 5 The king of Assyria marched through[ay] the whole land. He attacked Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel[az] to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.
A Summary of Israel’s Sinful History
7 This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of[ba] Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped[bb] other gods; 8 they observed the practices[bc] of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before them,[bd] and followed the example of the kings of Israel.[be] 9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right.[bf] They built high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away before them did. Their evil practices made the Lord angry.[bg] 12 They worshiped[bh] the disgusting idols[bi] in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command.[bj]
13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.”[bk] 14 But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors,[bl] who had not trusted the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey.[bm] They paid allegiance to[bn] worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord.[bo] They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command.[bp] 16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky,[bq] and worshiped[br] Baal. 17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire,[bs] and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry.[bt]
18 So the Lord was furious[bu] with Israel and rejected them;[bv] only the tribe of Judah was left. 19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example.[bw] 20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated[bx] them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king.[by] Jeroboam drove Israel away[bz] from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin.[ca] 22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam and did not repudiate[cb] them. 23 Finally[cc] the Lord rejected Israel[cd] just as he had warned he would do[ce] through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.
The King of Assyria Populates Israel with Foreigners
24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners[cf] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria[cg] in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 When they first moved in,[ch] they did not worship[ci] the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 26 The king of Assyria was told,[cj] “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people[ck] because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you[cl] deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.”[cm] 28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship[cn] the Lord.
29 But each of these nations made[co] its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria[cp] had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 30 The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth,[cq] the people from Cuth made Nergal,[cr] the people from Hamath made Ashima,[cs] 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak,[ct] and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech,[cu] the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 At the same time they worshiped[cv] the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places.[cw] 33 They were worshiping[cx] the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.
34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship[cy] the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave[cz] the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 35 The Lord made a covenant with them[da] and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability;[db] bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. 38 You must never forget the covenant I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. 39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” 40 But they[dc] paid no attention; instead they observed their earlier practices. 41 These nations were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons are doing just as their fathers have done, to this very day.
Hezekiah Becomes King of Judah
18 In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother[dd] was Abi,[de] the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done.[df] 4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole.[dg] He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time[dh] the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.[di] 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.[dj] 6 He was loyal to[dk] the Lord and did not abandon him.[dl] He obeyed the commandments that the Lord had given to[dm] Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors.[dn] He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him.[do] 8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up[dp] against Samaria and besieged it. 10 After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel, Samaria was captured. 11 The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel[dq] to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. 12 This happened because they did not obey[dr] the Lord their God and broke his covenant with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.[ds]
Sennacherib Invades Judah
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty.[dt] If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.”[du] So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 300 talents[dv] of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in[dw] the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts that he had plated[dx] and gave them to the king of Assyria.
17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser[dy] from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went[dz] and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.[ea] 18 They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna, the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.
19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence?[eb] 20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk.[ec] In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me? 21 Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him. 22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’ 23 Now make a deal[ed] with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 24 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.[ee] 25 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up[ef] against this land and destroy it.’”’”[eg]
26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic,[eh] for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect[ei] in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you.[ej] His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”[ek]
28 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,[el] “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand![em] 30 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me.[en] Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land just like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” 33 Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?[eo] 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?[ep] Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?[eq] 35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”[er] 36 The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”
37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn[es] and reported to him what the chief adviser had said. 19 1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests,[et] clothed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This is a day of distress, insults,[eu] and humiliation,[ev] as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.[ew] 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.[ex] When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.[ey] So pray for this remnant that remains.’”[ez]
5 When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard, because the Assyrian king’s officers have insulted me. 7 Look, I will take control of his mind;[fa] he will receive[fb] a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down[fc] with a sword in his own land.”’”
8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.[fd] 9 The king[fe] heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him.[ff] He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: 10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over[fg] to the king of Assyria.” 11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands.[fh] Do you really think you will be rescued?[fi] 12 Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar—rescued by their gods?[fj] 13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair,[fk] Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14 Hezekiah took the letter[fl] from the messengers and read it.[fm] Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim![fn] You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky[fo] and the earth. 16 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God![fp] 17 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. 18 They have burned the gods of the nations,[fq] for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.[fr] 19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”
20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I have heard your prayer[fs] concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 This is what the Lord says about him:[ft]
“‘“The virgin daughter Zion[fu]
despises you, she makes fun of you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head after you.[fv]
22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted,[fw]
and looked so arrogantly?[fx]
At the Holy One of Israel![fy]
23 Through your messengers you taunted the Sovereign Master,[fz]
‘With my many chariots[ga]
I climbed up the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions,[gb]
its thickest woods.
24 I dug wells and drank
water in foreign lands.[gc]
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
25 [gd] Certainly you must have heard![ge]
Long ago I worked it out.
In ancient times I planned[gf] it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins.[gg]
26 Their residents are powerless,[gh]
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field,
or green vegetation.[gi]
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops[gj]
when it is scorched by the east wind.[gk]
27 I know where you live
and everything you do.[gl]
28 Because you rage against me,
and the uproar you create has reached my ears,[gm]
I will put my hook in your nose,[gn]
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back the way
you came.”
29 [go] “‘This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth:[gp] This year you will eat what grows wild,[gq] and next year[gr] what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.[gs] 30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.[gt]
31 “‘For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;
survivors will come out of Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[gu] will accomplish this.
32 So this is what the Lord has said about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here.[gv]
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,[gw]
nor will he build siege works against it.
33 He will go back the way he came.
He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.
34 “‘I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”[gx]
35 That very night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they[gy] got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.[gz] 36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.[ha] 37 One day,[hb] as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,[hc] his sons[hd] Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.[he] They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.
Hezekiah is Healed
20 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness.[hf] The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”[hg] 2 He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you[hh] faithfully and with wholehearted devotion,[hi] and how I have carried out your will.”[hj] Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.[hk]
4 Isaiah had not yet left the middle courtyard[hl] when the Lord’s message came to him, 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David has said: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow[hm] you will go up to the Lord’s temple. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’”[hn] 7 Isaiah ordered, “Get a fig cake.” So they did as he ordered[ho] and placed it on the ulcerated sore, and he recovered.[hp]
8 Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What is the confirming sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple the day after tomorrow?” 9 Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said. Do you want the shadow to move ahead ten steps or to go back ten steps?”[hq] 10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for it[hr] to go back ten steps.” 11 Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and the Lord[hs] made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.[ht]
Messengers from Babylon Visit Hezekiah
12 At that time Merodach Baladan[hu] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent messengers with letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill. 13 Hezekiah welcomed[hv] them and showed them his whole storehouse, with its silver, gold, spices, and high quality olive oil, as well as his armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.[hw] 14 Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where do they come from?” Hezekiah replied, “They come from the distant land of Babylon.” 15 Isaiah[hx] asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything in my palace. I showed them everything[hy] in my treasuries.” 16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to the Lord’s message, 17 ‘Look, a time is[hz] coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 18 ‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father[ia] will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s message which you have announced is appropriate.”[ib] Then he added,[ic] “At least there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.”[id]
20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring[ie] water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[if] 21 Hezekiah passed away[ig] and his son Manasseh replaced him as king.
Manasseh’s Reign over Judah
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother[ih] was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of[ii] the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations[ij] whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky[ik] and worshiped[il] them. 4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.”[im] 5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 6 He passed his son[in] through the fire[io] and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it.[ip] He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.[iq] 7 He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.[ir] 8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors,[is] provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law my servant Moses ordered them to obey.” 9 But they did not obey,[it] and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.
10 So the Lord announced through[iu] his servants the prophets: 11 “King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins.[iv] He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols.[iw] 12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel has said, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it.[ix] 13 I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab.[iy] I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides.[iz] 14 I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people[ja] and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies,[jb] 15 because they have done evil in my sight[jc] and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”
16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end,[jd] in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.[je]
17 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign and all his accomplishments, as well as the sinful acts he committed, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[jf] 18 Manasseh passed away[jg] and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzzah, and his son Amon replaced him as king.
Amon’s Reign over Judah
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. His mother[jh] was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah. 20 He did evil in the sight of[ji] the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. 21 He followed in the footsteps of his father[jj] and worshiped and bowed down to the disgusting idols[jk] that his father had worshiped.[jl] 22 He abandoned the Lord, God of his ancestors, and did not follow the Lord’s instructions.[jm] 23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. 24 The people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they[jn] made his son Josiah king in his place.
25 The rest of Amon’s accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[jo] 26 He was buried[jp] in his tomb in the garden of Uzzah, and his son Josiah replaced him as king.
Josiah Repents
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother[jq] was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath. 2 He did what the Lord approved[jr] and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps;[js] he did not deviate to the right or the left.
3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders:[jt] 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down[ju] the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. 5 Have them hand it over to the construction foremen[jv] assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it,[jw] 6 including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work.[jx] 7 Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.”[jy]
8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the scroll of the law in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. 9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported,[jz] “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple[ka] and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. 12 The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, 13 “Go, seek an oracle from[kb] the Lord for me and the people—for all Judah. Find out about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s great fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.”[kc]
14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe.[kd] (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh[ke] district.) They stated their business,[kf] 15 and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me: 16 “This is what the Lord has said: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, all the things in the scroll that the king of Judah has read. 17 This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices[kg] to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made.[kh] My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’” 18 Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said concerning the words you have heard: 19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit[ki] and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people.[kj] You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord. 20 ‘Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace.[kk] You will not have to witness[kl] all the disaster I will bring on this place.’”’” Then they reported back to the king.
The King Institutes Religious Reform
23 The king summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem.[km] 2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud[kn] all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed[ko] the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow[kp] the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,[kq] by carrying out the terms[kr] of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant.[ks]
4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests,[kt] and the guards[ku] to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of[kv] Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky.[kw] The king[kx] burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces[ky] of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 He eliminated[kz] the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices[la] on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices[lb] to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) 6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it.[lc] He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard.[ld] 7 He tore down the quarters[le] of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines[lf] for Asherah.
8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined[lg] the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba.[lh] He tore down the high place of the goat idols[li] situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate. 9 (Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.)[lj] 10 The king[lk] ruined Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that no one could pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech.[ll] 11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses[lm] that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.)[ln] He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god.[lo] 12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them[lp] and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley. 13 The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction,[lq] that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom. 14 He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled those shrines[lr] with human bones.
15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin.[ls] He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust, including the Asherah pole.[lt] 16 When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought;[lu] he burned them on the altar and defiled it, just as in the Lord’s message that was announced by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. Then the king turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this.[lv] 17 He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet[lw] who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.” 18 The king[lx] said, “Leave it alone! No one must touch his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, as well as the bones of the Israelite prophet buried beside him.[ly]
19 Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made them and angered the Lord.[lz] He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel.[ma] 20 He sacrificed all the priests of the high places on the altars located there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
21 The king ordered all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God, as prescribed in this scroll of the covenant.” 22 He issued this edict because[mb] a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges who led Israel; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah.[mc] 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, such a Passover of the Lord was observed in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah also got rid of[md] the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits,[me] the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images,[mf] and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law[mg] recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple. 25 No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses.[mh]
26 Yet the Lord’s great anger against Judah did not subside; he was still infuriated by all the things Manasseh had done.[mi] 27 The Lord announced, “I will also spurn Judah,[mj] just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose—both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, ‘I will live there.’[mk]
28 The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign and all his accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[ml] 29 During Josiah’s reign[mm] Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt marched toward[mn] the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to fight him, but Necho[mo] killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 His servants transported his dead body[mp] from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head,[mq] and made him king in his father’s place.
Jehoahaz’s Reign over Judah
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother[mr] was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 32 He did evil in the sight of[ms] the Lord as his ancestors had done.[mt] 33 Pharaoh Necho imprisoned him in Riblah in the land of Hamath and prevented him from ruling in Jerusalem.[mu] He imposed on the land a special tax[mv] of 100 talents[mw] of silver and a talent of gold. 34 Pharaoh Necho made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in Josiah’s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died.[mx] 35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh the required amount of silver and gold, but to meet Pharaoh’s demands Jehoiakim had to tax the land. He collected an assessed amount from each man among the people of the land in order to pay Pharaoh Necho.[my]
Jehoiakim’s Reign over Judah
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother[mz] was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah. 37 He did evil in the sight of[na] the Lord as his ancestors had done.
24 During Jehoiakim’s reign,[nb] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked.[nc] Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.[nd] 2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, just as in the Lord’s message that he had announced through his servants the prophets. 3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed.[ne] 4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them.[nf]
5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.[ng] 6 He passed away[nh] and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. 7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Stream of Egypt and the Euphrates River.
Jehoiachin’s Reign over Judah
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother[ni] was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 9 He did evil in the sight of[nj] the Lord as his ancestors had done.
10 At that time the generals[nk] of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city.[nl] 11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it. 12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered[nm] to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign,[nn] took Jehoiachin[no] prisoner. 13 Nebuchadnezzar[np] took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items that King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned. 14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land. 15 He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land.[nq] 16 The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors.[nr] 17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s[ns] uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.
Zedekiah’s Reign over Judah
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother[nt] was Hamutal,[nu] the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 19 He did evil in the sight of[nv] the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.[nw]
20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence.[nx] Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 25 1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside[ny] it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign.[nz] 2 The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 3 By the ninth day of the fourth month[oa] the famine in the city was so severe the residents[ob] had no food. 4 The enemy broke through the city walls,[oc] and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night.[od] They went through the gate between the two walls, which is near the king’s garden.[oe] (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the rift valley.[of] 5 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the rift valley plains of Jericho,[og] and his entire army deserted him. 6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah,[oh] where he[oi] passed sentence on him. 7 Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch.[oj] The king of Babylon[ok] then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar Destroys Jerusalem
8 On the seventh[ol] day of the fifth month,[om] in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard,[on] who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. 9 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.[oo] 10 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.[op] 12 But he[oq] left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.
13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called “The Sea.”[or] They took the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took the pots, shovels,[os] trimming shears,[ot] pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.[ou] 15 The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers[ov] and basins. 16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple—including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,”[ow] and the movable stands—was too heavy to be weighed. 17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet[ox] high. The bronze top of one pillar was about 4½ feet[oy] high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.
18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five[oz] of the king’s advisers[pa] who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens[pb] for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed[pc] at Riblah in the territory[pd] of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.
Gedaliah Appointed Governor
22 Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah.[pe] 23 All the officers of the Judahite army[pf] and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite. 24 Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety.[pg] He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.” 25 But in the seventh month[ph] Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family,[pi] came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah,[pj] as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for[pk] Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.
Jehoiachin in Babylon
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh[pl] day of the twelfth month,[pm] King Evil Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned[pn] King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him[po] from prison. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than[pp] the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 Jehoiachin[pq] took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 30 He was given daily provisions by the king for the rest of his life until the day he died.[pr]
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