Bible in 90 Days

King Pekah of Israel

²⁷ In Azariah’s fifty-second year as king of Judah, Pekah, son of Remaliah, began to rule Israel in Samaria. He ruled for 20 years. ²⁸ He did what the Lord considered evil. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) led Israel to commit. ²⁹ In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and the entire territory of Naphtali. He also took the people away to Assyria as captives. ³⁰ Hoshea, son of Elah, plotted against Pekah, son of Remaliah. Hoshea attacked him and killed him. Hoshea began to rule as king in his place in the twentieth year that Azariah, son of Jotham, was king of Judah. ³¹ Everything else about Pekah—everything he did—is written in the official records of the kings of Israel.

King Jotham of Judah^(A)

³² In the second year that King Pekah, son of Remaliah, ruled Israel, Jotham, son of Azariah, began to rule as king of Judah. ³³ He was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ He did what the Lord considered right, as his father Azariah had done. ³⁵ But the illegal places of worship were not torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites. Jotham built the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple. ³⁶ Isn’t everything else about Jotham—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

³⁷ In those days the Lord began to use King Rezin of Aram and Pekah, son of Remaliah, to attack Judah. ³⁸ Jotham lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

King Ahaz of Judah^(B)

16 Pekah, son of Remaliah, was in his seventeenth year as king of Israel when King Ahaz, son of Jotham, began to rule as king of Judah. ² Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 26 years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what the Lord his God considered right, as his ancestor David had done. ³ He followed the example of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son by burning him alive. Sacrificing ⌞children⌟ was one of the disgusting things done by the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense as an offering at the illegal worship sites, which were on hills and under every large tree.

⁵ Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah, son of Remaliah of Israel, came to wage war against Jerusalem. They blockaded Ahaz but couldn’t get him to fight. ⁶ At that time King Rezin of Aram drove the Judeans out of Elath and gave it back to Edom.^[a] The Edomites came to Elath and still live there today.

⁷ Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria to say, “I’m your servant, your son. Come and save me from the kings of Aram and Israel who are attacking me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold he found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasury in the royal palace and sent them to the king of Assyria as a present.

⁹ The king of Assyria listened to him and attacked Damascus. He captured it, took the people to Kir as captives, and killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria. He saw an altar there in Damascus. So King Ahaz sent the priest Urijah a model of the altar and a set of detailed plans. ¹¹ Urijah built an altar exactly like the model King Ahaz sent from Damascus. He finished it before Ahaz returned home from Damascus.

¹² When the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar. The king approached the altar and went up to it. ¹³ He sacrificed his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his wine offering, and sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offering on the altar. ¹⁴ But he moved the bronze altar dedicated to the Lord. It had been in front of the temple between his altar and the Lord’s temple. Ahaz put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ King Ahaz gave this command to the priest Urijah: “On this great altar you must burn the morning burnt offerings and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offerings and grain offerings, and the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and wine offerings of all the people of the land. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt offerings and ⌞other⌟ sacrifices on it. I will use the bronze altar for prayer.” ¹⁶ The priest Urijah did what King Ahaz had commanded.

¹⁷ King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the ⌞bronze⌟ stands ⌞used in the temple⌟ and removed the basin from each of them. He took the bronze pool down from the bronze bulls that were under it and set it on a stone base. ¹⁸ Ahaz removed the covered walkway used on the day of rest—a holy day. This walkway had been built in the temple. He also removed the outer entrance for the king from the Lord’s temple. He did this to please the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Isn’t everything else about Ahaz—the things he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ Ahaz lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

King Hoshea of Israel

17 In Ahaz’s twelfth year as king of Judah, Hoshea, son of Elah, began to rule as king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for nine years. ² He did what the Lord considered evil, but he didn’t do what the kings of Israel before him had done.

The Fall of Samaria

³ King Shalmaneser of Assyria defeated Hoshea, who became his servant and was required to make annual payments to him. ⁴ The king of Assyria found Hoshea to be a traitor. (Hoshea had sent messengers to King Dais of Egypt and had stopped making annual payments to the king of Assyria.) So the king of Assyria arrested him and put him in prison. ⁵ Then the king of Assyria attacked the entire country. He attacked Samaria and blockaded it for three years. ⁶ In Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ The Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt ⌞and rescued them⌟ from the power of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). They worshiped other gods ⁸ and lived by the customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. They also did what their kings wanted them to do. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that weren’t right:

They built for themselves illegal places of worship in all of their cities, from the ⌞smallest⌟ watchtower to the ⌞largest⌟ fortified city.

¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah on every high hill and under every large tree.

¹¹ At all the illegal places of worship, they sacrificed in the same way as the nations that the Lord had removed from the land ahead of them.

They did evil things and made the Lord furious.

¹² They served idols, although the Lord had said, “Never do this.”

¹³ The Lord had warned Israel and Judah through every kind of prophet and seer,^[b] “Turn from your evil ways, and obey my commands and decrees as I commanded your ancestors in all my teachings, the commands I sent to you through my servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they refused to listen. They became as impossible to deal with as their ancestors who refused to trust the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees, the promise ^[c] he made to their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after worthless idols and became as worthless as the idols. They behaved like the nations around them, although the Lord had commanded them not to do that. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God:

They made two calves out of cast metal.

They made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah.

They prayed to the entire army of heaven.

They worshiped Baal.

¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters by burning them alive.

They practiced black magic and cast evil spells.

They sold themselves by doing what the Lord considered evil, and they made him furious.

¹⁸ The Lord became so angry with Israel that he removed them from his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. ¹⁹ Even Judah didn’t obey the commands of the Lord their God but lived according to Israel’s customs. ²⁰ So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants, made them suffer, handed them over to those who looted their property, and finally turned away from Israel.

²¹ When he tore Israel away from the family of David, the people of Israel made Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) king. Jeroboam forced Israel away from the Lord and led them to commit a serious sin. ²² The Israelites followed all the sins Jeroboam committed and never turned away from them. ²³ Finally, the Lord turned away from Israel as he had said he would through all his servants, the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their land to Assyria as captives, and they are still there today.

Assyria Brings Foreign People to Settle in Israel

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its cities.

²⁵ When they first came to live there, they didn’t worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions to kill some of them. ²⁶ Then someone said to the king of Assyria, “The people you took as captives and settled in the cities of Samaria don’t know the customs of the god of that country, so he sent lions. Now the lions are killing them because they don’t know the customs of the god of this country.”

²⁷ The king of Assyria gave this command: “Bring one of the priests you captured from there. Let him go back to teach them the customs of the god of that country.” ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been taken prisoner from Samaria went to live in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord.

²⁹ But each group ⌞that settled in Samaria⌟ continued to make its own gods. They put them at the illegal places of worship, which the people of Samaria had made. Each group did this in the cities where they lived:

³⁰ The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth.

The people from Cuth made Nergal.

The people from Hamath made Ashima.

³¹ The people from Avva made Nibhaz and Tartak.

The people from Sepharvaim burned their children for Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

³² So while these people were worshiping the Lord, they also appointed all kinds of people to serve as priests for the shrines at their illegal places of worship. ³³ They worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had come.

³⁴ Today they are still following their customs, as they’ve done from the beginning. They don’t fear the Lord or live by the decrees, customs, teachings, or commands that the Lord gave to the descendants of Jacob (whom he named Israel). ³⁵ When the Lord made a promise to Israel, he commanded, “Never worship other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. ³⁶ Instead, worship the Lord, who used his great power and a mighty arm to bring you out of Egypt. Bow down to the Lord, and sacrifice to him. ³⁷ Faithfully obey the laws, rules, teachings, and commands that he wrote for you: ‘Never worship other gods. ³⁸ Never forget the promise I made to you. Never worship other gods. ³⁹ Instead, worship the Lord your God, and he will rescue you from your enemies.’ ”

⁴⁰ The people of Israel had refused to listen and made up their own rules, as they had done from the beginning. ⁴¹ These ⌞other⌟ nations worshiped the Lord but also served their own idols. So did their children and their grandchildren. They still do whatever their ancestors did.

King Hezekiah of Judah^(C)

18 King Hoshea, son of Elah, had been king in Israel for three years when King Hezekiah, son of Ahaz of Judah, began to rule as king. ² Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, daughter of Zechariah.

³ He did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done. ⁴ He got rid of the illegal places of worship, crushed the sacred stones, and cut down the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. He even crushed the bronze snake that Moses had made because up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. They called it Nehushtan. ⁵ Hezekiah trusted the Lord God of Israel. No king among all the kings of Judah was like Hezekiah. ⁶ He was loyal to the Lord and never turned away from him. He obeyed the commands that the Lord had given through Moses, ⁷ so the Lord was with him. He succeeded in everything he tried: He rebelled against the king of Assyria and wouldn’t serve him anymore. ⁸ He conquered the Philistines from the ⌞smallest⌟ watchtower to the ⌞largest⌟ fortified city all the way to Gaza and its territory.

The Fall of Samaria

⁹ In Hezekiah’s fourth year as king (which was the seventh year in the reign of King Hoshea, son of Elah of Israel) King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked Samaria, blockaded it, ¹⁰ and captured it at the end of three years. Samaria was taken in Hezekiah’s sixth year as king (which was Hoshea’s ninth year as king of Israel). ¹¹ The king of Assyria took the Israelites to Assyria as captives. He put them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This happened because they refused to obey the Lord their God and disregarded the conditions of the promise ^[d] he made to them. They refused to obey everything that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.

The Lord Rescues Judah from the Assyrians^(D)

¹³ In Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ¹⁴ Then King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Go away, and leave me alone. I’ll pay whatever penalty you give me.”

So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be found in the Lord’s temple and in the royal palace treasury. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped ⌞the gold⌟ off the doors and doorposts of the Lord’s temple. (⌞Earlier⌟ Hezekiah had them covered ⌞with gold⌟.) He gave the gold to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent his commander-in-chief, his quartermaster, and his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came there and stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman’s Field. ¹⁸ When they called for King Hezekiah, Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went out to the field commander.

¹⁹ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What makes you so confident? ²⁰ You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom, then, do you trust for support in your rebellion against me? ²¹ Now, look! When you trust Egypt, you’re trusting a broken stick for a staff. If you lean on it, it stabs your hand and goes through it. This is what Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) is like for everyone who trusts him. ²² Suppose you tell me, “We’re trusting the Lord our God.” He’s the god whose places of worship and altars Hezekiah got rid of. He told Judah and Jerusalem, “Worship at this altar in Jerusalem.” ’

²³ “Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them. ²⁴ How can you defeat my master’s lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?

²⁵ “Have I come to destroy this place without the Lord on my side? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this country, and destroy it.’ ”

²⁶ Then Eliakim (son of Hilkiah), Shebnah, and Joah said to the field commander, “Speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the Judean language as long as there are people on the wall listening.”

²⁷ But the field commander asked them, “Did my master send me to tell these things only to you and your master? Didn’t he send me to the men sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?”

²⁸ Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language, “Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He can’t rescue you from me. ³⁰ Don’t let Hezekiah get you to trust the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us, and this city will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria.’ ³¹ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me! Come out and give yourselves up to me! Everyone will eat from his own grapevine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern. ³² Then I will come and take you away to a country like your own. It’s a country with grain and new wine, a country with bread and vineyards, a country with olive trees, olive oil, and honey. Live! Don’t die! Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying to you, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’ ³³ Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they rescue Samaria from my control? ³⁵ Did the gods of those countries rescue them from my control? Could the Lord then rescue Jerusalem from my control?”

³⁶ But the people were silent and didn’t say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.

³⁷ Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief. They told him the message from the field commander.

19 When King Hezekiah heard the message, he tore his clothes in grief, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the Lord’s temple. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the leaders of the priests, clothed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.

³ They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day filled with misery, punishment, and disgrace. We are like a woman who is about to give birth but doesn’t have the strength to do it. ⁴ The Lord your God may have heard all the words of the field commander. His master, the king of Assyria, sent him to defy the living God. The Lord your God may punish him because of the message that the Lord your God heard. Pray for the few people who are left.”

⁵ So King Hezekiah’s men went to Isaiah. ⁶ Isaiah answered them, “Say this to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Don’t be afraid of the message that you heard when the Assyrian king’s assistants slandered me. ⁷ I’m going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own country. I’ll have him assassinated in his own country.’ ”

⁸ The field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. He had heard that the king left Lachish. ⁹ Now, Sennacherib heard that King Tirhakah of Sudan was coming to fight him.

Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah, ‘Don’t let the god whom you trust deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ You heard what the kings of Assyria did to all countries, how they totally destroyed them. Will you be rescued? ¹² Did the gods of the nations which my ancestors destroyed rescue Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”

¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers, read them, and went to the Lord’s temple. He spread them out in front of the Lord ¹⁵ and prayed to the Lord, “Lord of Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned over the angels.^[e] You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the world. You made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Turn your ear toward me, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the message that Sennacherib sent to defy the living God. ¹⁷ It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have leveled nations.^{[f] 18} They have thrown the gods from these countries into fires because these gods aren’t real gods. They’re only wooden and stone statues made by human hands. So the Assyrians have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, Lord our God, rescue us from Assyria’s control so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you alone are the Lord God.”

Isaiah’s Prophecy against King Sennacherib of Assyria^(E)

²⁰ Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: You prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. I have heard you. ²¹ This is the message that the Lord speaks to him,

²⁹ “ ‘And this will be a sign for you, Hezekiah: You will eat what grows by itself this year and next year. But in the third year you will plant and harvest, plant vineyards, and eat what is produced. ³⁰ Those few people from the nation of Judah who escape will again take root and produce crops. ³¹ Those few people will go out from Jerusalem, and those who escape will go out of Mount Zion. The Lord is determined to do this.’

³² “This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

³⁵ It happened that night. The Lord’s angel went out and killed 185,000 ⌞soldiers⌟ in the Assyrian camp. When the Judeans got up early in the morning, they saw all the corpses.

³⁶ Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left. He went home to Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁷ While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer assassinated him and escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.

Hezekiah’s Illness^(F)

20 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Give final instructions to your household, because you’re about to die. You won’t get well.”

² Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Please, Lord, remember how I’ve lived faithfully and sincerely in your presence. I’ve done what you consider right.” And he cried bitterly.

⁴ Isaiah hadn’t gone as far as the middle courtyard when the Lord spoke his word to him: ⁵ “Go back and say to Hezekiah, leader of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I’ve heard your prayer. I’ve seen your tears. Now I’m going to heal you. The day after tomorrow you will go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ I’ll give you 15 more years to live. I’ll rescue you and defend this city from the control of the king of Assyria for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ”

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Get a fig cake, and put it on the boil so that the king will get well.”

⁸ Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I’ll go to the Lord’s temple the day after tomorrow?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This is your sign from the Lord that he will do what he promises. Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps or come back ten steps?”

¹⁰ Hezekiah replied, “It’s easy for the shadow to extend ten ⌞more⌟ steps forward. No, let it come back ten steps.”

¹¹ Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow that had gone down on Ahaz’s stairway go back up ten steps.

Hezekiah Shows the Babylonians His Treasures^(G)

¹² At that time Baladan’s son, King Merodach Baladan of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah because he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah was so happy with them that he showed the messengers his warehouse: the silver, gold, balsam, fine olive oil, his entire armory, and everything in his treasury. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and every corner of his kingdom.

¹⁴ Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did these men say? And where did they come from?”

Hezekiah answered, “They came to me from the distant country of Babylon.”

¹⁵ Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah answered, “They saw everything in my palace, and I showed them everything in my treasury.”

¹⁶ Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the Lord’s word! ¹⁷ The Lord says, ‘The days are going to come when everything in your palace, everything your ancestors have stored up to this day, will be taken away to Babylon. Nothing will be left. ¹⁸ Some of your own descendants will be taken away. They will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

¹⁹ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The Lord’s word that you have spoken is good.” He added, “Isn’t it enough if there is peace and security as long as I live?”

²⁰ Isn’t everything else about Hezekiah, all his heroic acts and how he made the pool and tunnel to bring water into the city, written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ²¹ Hezekiah lay down in death with his ancestors. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

King Manasseh of Judah^(H)

21 Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

² He did what the Lord considered evil by copying the disgusting things done by the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. ³ He rebuilt the illegal places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He set up altars dedicated to Baal and made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh, like Ahab, worshiped and served the entire army of heaven. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.” ⁵ In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple, he built altars for the entire army of heaven. ⁶ He burned his son as a sacrifice, consulted fortunetellers, cast evil spells, and appointed ⌞royal⌟ mediums and psychics. He did many things that made the Lord furious. ⁷ Manasseh had an idol of Asherah made. Then he set it up in the temple, where the Lord had said to David and his son Solomon, “I have chosen this temple and Jerusalem from all the tribes of Israel. I will put my name here forever. ⁸ I will never again make Israel’s feet wander from the land that I gave to their ancestors if they will obey all the commands and all the Teachings that my servant Moses gave them.” ⁹ (But they wouldn’t obey.) Manasseh misled Israel so that they did more evil things than the nations that the Lord had destroyed when the Israelites arrived in the land.

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke through his servants the prophets: ¹¹ “King Manasseh of Judah has done disgusting things, things more evil than what the Amorites who ⌞were here⌟ before him had done. Manasseh has also made Judah sin by ⌞worshiping⌟ his idols. ¹² So this is what I, the Lord God of Israel, said: I’m going to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears about it will ring. ¹³ I will measure Jerusalem with the measuring line used for Samaria and the plumb line used for Ahab’s dynasty. I will wipe out Jerusalem in the same way that a dish is wiped out and turned upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the rest of my people. I will put them under the control of their enemies, and they will become property that their enemies capture. ¹⁵ I will do this because they have done what I consider evil and have been making me furious from the time their ancestors left Egypt until this day.”

¹⁶ In addition to his sin that he led Judah to commit in front of the Lord, Manasseh also killed a lot of innocent people from one end of Jerusalem to the other. ¹⁷ Isn’t everything else about Manasseh—everything he did, the sins he committed—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Manasseh lay down in death with his ancestors. He was buried in the garden of his own palace, in the garden of Uzza. His son Amon succeeded him as king.

King Amon of Judah^(I)

¹⁹ Amon was 22 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 2 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what the Lord considered evil, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ He lived like his father in every way and worshiped and prayed to the idols his father had worshiped. ²² He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors and didn’t live the Lord’s way. ²³ Amon’s officials plotted against him and killed him in his palace. ²⁴ Then the people of the land killed everyone who had plotted against King Amon. They made his son Josiah king in his place. ²⁵ Isn’t everything else about Amon—the things he did—written in the official record of the kings of Judah? ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. His son Josiah succeeded him as king.

King Josiah of Judah^(J)

22 Josiah was 8 years old when he began to rule, and he was king for 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. ² Josiah did what the Lord considered right. He lived in the ways of his ancestor David and never stopped.

The Book of the Lord’s Teachings Found in the Temple^(K)

³ In Josiah’s eighteenth year as king of Judah, he sent the scribe Shaphan, son of Azaliah and grandson of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these instructions: ⁴ “Go to the chief priest Hilkiah. Have him count the money that has been brought into the Lord’s temple, ⌞the money⌟ that the doorkeepers have collected from the people. ⁵ Give ⌞some of⌟ it to the foremen who are in charge of the Lord’s temple. They should give it to the workmen who are making repairs on the Lord’s temple. ⁶ (These workers include the carpenters, builders, and masons.) Also, use ⌞the rest of⌟ the money to buy lumber and quarried stones to repair the temple. ⁷ Since the workmen are honest, don’t require them to account for the money you give them.”

⁸ The chief priest Hilkiah told the scribe Shaphan, “I have found the Book of Moses’ Teachings in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who then read it.

⁹ The scribe Shaphan went to the king and reported, “We have taken the money donated in the temple and have given it to the workmen who are in charge of the Lord’s temple.” ¹⁰ Then the scribe Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it to the king.

¹¹ When the king heard what the book of the Teachings said, he tore his clothes ⌞in distress⌟. ¹² Then the king gave an order to the priest Hilkiah, to Ahikam (son of Shaphan), Achbor (son of Micaiah), the scribe Shaphan, and the royal official Asaiah. He said, ¹³ “On behalf of the people, all of Judah, and me, ask the Lord about the words in this book that has been found. The Lord’s fierce anger is directed towards us because our ancestors did not obey the things in this book or do everything written ⌞in it⌟.” ^[h]

¹⁴ So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to talk to the prophet Huldah. She was the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas. Shallum was in charge of the ⌞royal⌟ wardrobe. Huldah was living in the Second Part of Jerusalem.

¹⁵ She told them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to bring disaster on this place and on the people living here according to everything written in the book that the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ I will do this because they have abandoned me and sacrificed to other gods in order to make me furious. Therefore, my burning anger directed at this place will never be extinguished.’ ”

¹⁸ ⌞Huldah added,⌟ “But tell Judah’s king who sent you to me to ask the Lord a question, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words you heard: ¹⁹ You had a change of heart and humbled yourself in front of the Lord when you heard my words against this place and those who live here. I had said that those who live here will be destroyed and cursed. You also tore your clothes ⌞in distress⌟ and cried in front of me. So I will listen ⌞to you⌟, declares the Lord. ²⁰ That is why I’m going to bring you to your ancestors. I’m going to bring you to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see any of the disaster I’m going to bring on this place.’ ”

So they reported this to the king.

King Josiah’s Religious Reforms^(L)

23 Then the king sent for all the respected leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to join him. ² The king, everyone in Judah, everyone living in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people (young and old) went to the Lord’s temple. Josiah read everything written in the Book of the Promise ^[i] found in the Lord’s temple so that they could hear it. ³ The king stood beside the pillar and made a promise to the Lord that he would follow the Lord and obey his commands, instructions, and laws with all his heart and soul. He confirmed the terms of the promise written in this book. And all the people joined in the promise.

⁴ Then the king ordered the chief priest Hilkiah, the priests who served under Hilkiah, and the doorkeepers to take out of the Lord’s temple all the utensils that had been made for Baal, Asherah, and the entire army of heaven. Josiah burned the utensils outside Jerusalem in an open field near the Kidron Brook. Then he carried their ashes to Bethel.

⁵ He got rid of the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to sacrifice at the illegal places of worship in the cities of Judah and all around Jerusalem. They had been sacrificing to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the zodiac, and the entire army of heaven. ⁶ He took the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah from the temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust, and threw its ashes on the tombs of the common people. ⁷ He tore down the houses of the male temple prostitutes who were in the Lord’s temple, where women did weaving for Asherah.

⁸ He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah from Geba to Beersheba and made the places where those priests sacrificed unclean.^[j] He tore down the worship site at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the gate named after the mayor of the city. (The worship site was to the left of anyone going through the city gate.)

⁹ The priests of the illegal worship sites had never gone to the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem. Instead, they ate their unleavened bread among the other worshipers.

¹⁰ Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech.

¹¹ He removed the horses that Judah’s kings had dedicated to the sun god at the entrance of the Lord’s temple. They were in the temple courtyard near the room of the eunuch Nathan Melech. He also burned the chariots of the sun god, ¹² the altars that Judah’s kings had made and placed on the roof of Ahaz’s upstairs room, and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. The king tore them down from there, crushed them, and dumped their rubble in the Kidron Valley.

¹³ The king made the illegal places of worship east of Jerusalem unclean. They were on the southern part of the Hill of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel had built them for Astarte (the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians), Chemosh (the disgusting god of Moab), and Milcom (the disgusting god of the Ammonites). ¹⁴ Josiah crushed the sacred stones, cut down the poles dedicated to Asherah, and filled their places with human bones. ¹⁵ He also tore down the altar at Bethel—the place of worship made by Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), who had made Israel sin. He tore down both the altar and the place of worship. They burned the worship site, crushing it to powder and burning the pole dedicated to Asherah.

¹⁶ When Josiah turned and saw the tombs on the hill there, he sent men to take the bones out of the tombs and burn them on the altar to make it unclean. This fulfilled the Lord’s word announced by the man of God. ¹⁷ Then he asked, “What is this monument that I see?”

The people of the city answered him, “It’s the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah to announce that you would do these things to the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸ So Josiah said, “Let him rest. Don’t disturb his bones.” So they left his bones with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹ Josiah also got rid of all the temples at the illegal places of worship in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built these places to make the Lord furious. He did to them everything that he had done to the worship places at Bethel. ²⁰ He slaughtered all the priests of the illegal worship sites on their altars and then burned human bones on them. He went back to Jerusalem.

²¹ The king ordered all the people to celebrate the Passover for the Lord their God as it is written in this Book of the Promise. ²² The Passover had never been celebrated like this during the time of the judges who governed Israel or during the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem for the Lord.

²⁴ Josiah also got rid of the mediums, psychics, family idols, other idols, and disgusting gods that could be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to confirm the words of the Teachings written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the Lord’s temple.

²⁵ No king before Josiah had turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength, as directed in Moses’ Teachings. No other ⌞king⌟ was like Josiah.

²⁶ But the Lord still didn’t turn his hot, burning anger from Judah. After all, Manasseh had done all these things to make him furious. ²⁷ The Lord had said, “I will put Judah out of my sight as I put Israel out of my sight. I will reject Jerusalem, the city that I chose, and I will reject the temple where I said my name would be.”

²⁸ Isn’t everything else about Josiah—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

²⁹ In Josiah’s days Pharaoh Necoh (the king of Egypt) came to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to attack Necoh. When Pharaoh saw him at Megiddo, Pharaoh killed him. ³⁰ His officers put his dead body in a chariot and brought it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his tomb.

King Jehoahaz of Judah^(M)

Then the people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father. ³¹ Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he was king for 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² He did what the Lord considered evil, as his ancestors had done. ³³ Pharaoh Necoh made him a prisoner at Riblah in the territory of Hamath during his reign ^[k] in Jerusalem and fined the country 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.

³⁴ Then Pharaoh Necoh made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died. ³⁵ Jehoiakim gave Pharaoh the silver and the gold. But he had to tax the country to pay the silver Pharaoh had demanded. He taxed each person according to his wealth so that he could get the silver and gold from the people of the land and give it to Pharaoh Necoh.

King Jehoiakim of Judah^(N)

³⁶ Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷ Jehoiakim did what the Lord considered evil, as his ancestors had done.

24 During Jehoiakim’s reign King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked ⌞Judah⌟, and Jehoiakim became subject to him for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned against him and rebelled.

² The Lord sent raiding parties of Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah as the Lord had predicted through his servants the prophets. ³ Without a doubt, this happened to Judah because the Lord had commanded it to happen. He wanted to remove the people of Judah from his sight because of Manasseh’s sins—everything he had done, ⁴ including the innocent blood he had shed. He had a lot of innocent people in Jerusalem killed, and the Lord refused to forgive him.

⁵ Isn’t everything else about Jehoiakim—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ⁶ Jehoiakim lay down in death with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiakin succeeded him as king.

⁷ The king of Egypt didn’t leave his own country again because the king of Babylon had taken all the territory from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River. This territory had belonged to the king of Egypt.

King Jehoiakin of Judah^(O)

⁸ Jehoiakin was 18 years old when he began to rule as king. He was king for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹ Jehoiakin did what the Lord considered evil, as his father had done.

¹⁰ At that time the officers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem. (The city was blockaded.) ¹¹ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon arrived while his officers were blockading the city. ¹² King Jehoiakin of Judah, his mother, officials, generals, and eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. In the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon captured Jehoiakin. ¹³ He also took away all the treasures in the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. As the Lord had predicted, Nebuchadnezzar stripped the gold off all the furnishings that King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple. ¹⁴ He captured all Jerusalem, all the generals, all the soldiers (10,000 prisoners), and all the craftsmen and smiths. Only the poorest people of the land were left. ¹⁵ He took Jehoiakin to Babylon as a captive. He also took the king’s mother, wives, eunuchs, and the leading citizens of the land from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon brought all 7,000 of the prominent landowners, 1,000 craftsmen and smiths, and all the men who could fight in war as captives to Babylon.

King Zedekiah of Judah^(P)

¹⁷ The king of Babylon made King Jehoiakin’s Uncle Mattaniah king in his place and changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah. ¹⁸ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah did what the Lord considered evil, as Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ The Lord became angry with Jerusalem and Judah and threw the people out of his sight.

Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(Q)

25 On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls. ² The blockade of the city lasted until Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth ^[l] month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.

⁴ The enemy broke through the city walls that night. All Judah’s soldiers left on the road of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, the king took the road to the plain ⌞of Jericho⌟. ⁵ The Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plain of Jericho. His entire army had deserted him. ⁶ The Babylonians captured the king, brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and passed sentence on him. ⁷ They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons as he watched, and then they blinded Zedekiah. They put him in bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down. ¹⁰ The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. ¹² The captain of the guard left some of the poorest people in the land to work in the vineyards and on the farms.

¹³ The Babylonians broke apart the bronze pillars of the Lord’s temple, the stands, and the bronze pool in the Lord’s temple. They shipped the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes, and all the bronze utensils used in the temple service. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard took all of the incense burners and bowls that were made of gold or silver. ¹⁶ The bronze from the two pillars, the pool, and the stands that Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple couldn’t be weighed. ¹⁷ One pillar was 27 feet high and had a bronze capital on it that was 4½ feet high. The filigree and the pomegranates around the capital were all made of bronze. The second pillar and its filigree were the same.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the 3 doorkeepers. ¹⁹ From the city he also took an army commander, 5 men who had access to the king whom he found in the city, the scribe who was in charge of the militia, and 60 of the common people whom he found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ The king of Babylon executed them at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So the people of Judah were captives when they left their land.

²² King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern the remaining people in the land of Judah. ²³ When all the army commanders and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan (son of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth from Netophah), and Jaazaniah from Beth Maacah and their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men. He said, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian officers. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper.”

²⁵ In the seventh month Ishmael (son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the kings) went with ten men to kill Gedaliah and the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then people of all classes and the army commanders left for Egypt because they were afraid of the Babylonians.

King Jehoiakin Released from Prison^(R)

²⁷ On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment of King Jehoiakin of Judah, King Evil Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, freed King Jehoiakin of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He treated him well and gave him a special position higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiakin no longer wore prison clothes, and he ate his meals in the king’s presence as long as he lived. ³⁰ The king of Babylon gave him a daily food allowance as long as he lived.