So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

So the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks [through his nose or cheeks] and bound him with bronze [chains] and took him to Babylon.

He prayed to Him, so He heard his petition and granted his request, and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that Yahweh is God.

After that, he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon in the brook and so forth to the fish gate and round about Ophel, and brought it up of a very great height, and put captains of war in all the strong cities of Judah.

He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord’s temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

Then he set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

Even so, the people continued to sacrifice in the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, are written in the Records of Israel’s Kings.

So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

So his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or the left.

so that they brake down the altars of Baals even in his presence, and the Idols that were upon them he caused to be destroyed. And the groves, carved Images, and Images of metal he brake and made dust of them, and strawed it upon the graves of them that had offered to them.

Then Josiah burned the bones of the [pagan] priests on their altars and purged and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, when he had purged the land and the [Lord’s] house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder (secretary), to repair the house of the Lord his God.

So they went to Hilkiah the high priest, and gave him the money brought into God’s temple. The Levites and the doorkeepers had collected money from Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the entire remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then they gave it to the workmen who were appointed over the house of the Lord, and the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it [to others] to repair and restore the house (temple).

they gave it to the carpenters and builders and also used it to buy quarried stone and timbers—for joining and making beams—for the buildings that Judah’s kings had destroyed.

The workmen did their duties faithfully with these foremen supervising them: Jahath and Obadiah, descendants of Levi who were Merari's sons, Zechariah and Meshullam, descendants of Kohath, and various descendants of Levi, who were skilled musicians.

When they brought out the money that had been deposited in the Lord’s temple, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord written by the hand of Moses.

Hilkiah told Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And he gave the book to Shaphan.

They have emptied out the money that was found in the Lord’s temple and have put it into the hand of the overseers and the hand of those doing the work.”

And it cometh to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the law, that he rendeth his garments,

And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,

“Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah in regard to the words of the book which has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept and obeyed the word of the Lord, to act in accordance with everything that is written in this book.”

So Hilkiah, and they whom the king had commanded , went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spake to her to that effect.

And she saith to them, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Say to the man who hath sent you unto me,

These are the words of the Lord: See, I will send evil on this place and on its people, even all the curses in the book which they have been reading before the king of Judah;

because that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, so as to provoke Me with all the works of their hands, and poured out is My fury upon this place, and it is not quenched.

And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;

"Because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he had to say about this place and its inhabitants indeed, because you humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes, and cried out to me, I have heard you," declares the LORD.

Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

So the king sent messengers and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read aloud so they could hear all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.

Then the king stood at his post and made a covenant in the Lord’s presence to follow the Lord and to keep His commands, His decrees, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul in order to carry out the words of the covenant written in this book.

He had all those present in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree to it. So all the inhabitants of Jerusalem carried out the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

So Josiah removed everything that was detestable from all the lands belonging to the Israelites, and he required all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his reign they did not turn aside from following Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah observed the Lord’s Passover and slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.

He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple.

And he said to the Levites, the teachers of all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, See, the holy ark is in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, made; it will no longer have to be transported on your backs: now be the servants of the Lord your God and his people Israel,

"Put the holy ark in the Temple that Solomon, the son of Israel's King David, built. It will no longer be a burden on their shoulders. Now go serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves by divisions according to your ancestral households, keeping to what King David of Israel and his son Solomon wrote about this.

Moreover, stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your brethren the lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household.

So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.

His officers also contributed a voluntary offering to the people, the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 from the flocks [of lambs and young goats], and 300 bulls.

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.

So they slaughtered the passover, and the priests dashed the blood received at their hand, and the Levites were flaying the offerings .

And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people.

Afterward the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

So the sons of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time, - and the festival of unleavened cakes, seven days.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed.

But he sent representatives to him, saying, What have I to do with you, O king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against those with whom I am at war; and God has given me orders to go forward quickly: keep out of God's way, for he is with me, or he will send destruction on you.

But Josiah did not turn away from him; instead, in order to fight with him he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to the Valley of Megiddo to fight.

And the archers will shoot at king Josiah; and the king will say to his servants, Cause me to pass away; for I was made sick greatly.

So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, along with his deeds of faithful love according to what is written in the law of the Lord,

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.

Then Neco king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt.

Also Nebuchadnezzar took some of the utensils of the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.

The rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, the detestable things he did, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of Israel’s Kings. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

Jehoiachin was eight[teen] years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Now at the turn of the year [in the spring], King Nebuchadnezzar sent word and had him brought to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the Lord, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet at the Lord’s command.

All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the Lord’s temple that He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.

So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their choice young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; He handed them all over to him.

And as for all the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his officials, he brought them all to Babylon.

Then they burned the house of God and tore down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire, and destroyed all its valuable articles.

to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had restored its Sabbaths; for as long as the land lay desolate it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

So says Cyrus king of Persia, Jehovah, the God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORD God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem.

Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, besides the freewill offering for God's house which is in Jerusalem.'"

So the heads of the {families} for Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites--to all whose spirit God had stirred--[prepared] to go up and build the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem.

So all of their neighbors equipped the travelers with silver, gold, equipment, pack animals, and valuable goods, in addition to voluntary offerings.

King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the house of his gods.

So that all the vessels both of gold and silver, were five thousand and four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought them all up, with them that came up out of the captivity of Babylon unto Jerusalem.

These came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel:

Parosh’s descendants2,172

Shephatiah’s descendants372

Arah’s descendants775

Pahath-moab’s descendants: Jeshua’s and Joab’s descendants 2,812

Elam’s descendants1,254

Zattu’s descendants945

Zaccai’s descendants760

Bani’s descendants642

Bebai’s descendants623

Azgad’s descendants1,222

Adonikam’s descendants666

Bigvai’s descendants2,056

Adin’s descendants454

Ater’s descendants: of Hezekiah98

Bezai’s descendants323

Jorah’s descendants112