Howbeit the nations severally were making their own gods, - and did put them in the houses of the high places, which, the Samaritans, had made, each several nation, in their cities wherein, they, were dwelling.

And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites were burning their sons in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

Those who were fearing Yahweh made priests of the high places {from among themselves}, and they were sacrificing for them in the shrines of the high places.

Yahweh, were they revering, - and yet, their own gods, were they serving, according to the custom of the nations from whence they had brought them away captive.

Howbeit they hearkened not, - but, according to their own former custom, were they offering.

Thus were these nations doing reverence unto Yahweh, and yet, unto their own carved images, were they rendering service, - yea, their sons and their son's sons, as the fathers offered, so are, they, offering until this day.

He removed the heights, and he brake in pieces the statues, and he cut off the image, and he beat down the serpent of brass which Moses made: for till those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it and they called it brass.

He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among any that were before him.

And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish, with a strong force, against king Hezekiah, to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller's field.

But the people were silent and answered him not a word; for the king's command was, saying, Answer him not.

When the servants of king Hezekiah were come to Isaiah,

The messengers were told, "This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: "Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you "Jerusalem won't be turned over to the control of Assyria's king."

Have the gods of the nations which my fathers have destroyed delivered them: Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar?

and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore have they destroyed them.

And their inhabitants were powerless, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the growing grass, and as the green herb, As the grass on the housetops, and grain blighted before it be grown up.

And it came to pass that night, that an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies.

And from thy sons which shall go forth from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall be taken; and they were eunuchs in the temple of the king of Babel.

Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols;

And I thrust out the remainder of my inheritance, and I gave them into the hand of their enemies; and they were for plunder and for a prey to all their enemies.

because they have done evil in my eyes and were provoking me from the day that their ancestors came out from Egypt up to this day.'"

Howbeit there used to be no reckoning made with them, as to the silver that was given into their hand, - because, with faithfulness, were they dealing.

Then the king sent, - and there were gathered unto him, all the elders of Judah, and Jerusalem;

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 all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord's temple.

And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

And he took the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem to the stream Kidron, burning it by the stream and crushing it to dust, and he put the dust on the place where the bodies of the common people were put to rest.

And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, which were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove tents for the Asherah.

and be brought in all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where, the priests, had burned incense, from Geba unto Beer-sheba, - and brake down the high places of the gates, that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on one's left hand, in the gate of the city;

However, the priests of the high places were not allowed to go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem [to serve], but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

He removed from the entrance to the Lord's temple the statues of horses 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.) He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god.

And the king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, and he shattered them, removing them from thence, and cast the powder of them into the torrent of Kidron.

And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

The stone pillars were broken to bits and the wood pillars cut down, and the places where they had been were made full of the bones of the dead

And the altar at Beth-el, and the high place put up by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel do evil, that altar and that high place were pulled down; and the high place was burned and crushed to dust and the Asherah was burned.

And Josiah turned himself, and saw the sepulchres that were there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah, that the man of God had proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger, Josiah removed, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

And he sacrificed upon the altars all the priests of the high places that were there, and burned men's bones upon them. And he returned to Jerusalem.

Moreover the necromancers and the soothsayers, and the teraphim and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah took away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkijah the priest had found in the house of Jehovah.

And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, while his servants were besieging it.

And he took away all the people of Jerusalem and all the chiefs and all the men of war, ten thousand prisoners; and all the expert workmen and the metal-workers; only the poorest sort of the people of the land were not taken away.

And, all the men of might - seven thousand, and artificers and smiths - a thousand, all who were valiant and ready to make war, the king of Babylon brought them captive to Babylon.

For it happened because of the anger of Yahweh, in Jerusalem and in Judah, until they were cast out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

And the city was broken into; and all the men of war fled by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which leads to the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about); and they went the way toward the plain.

And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.

Zedekiah's sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah's eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.

And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the captain of the body-guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard carried away captive the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters that had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

And the brazen pillars that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the brass thereof to Babylon.

They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.

and, the sprinkling pans and the dashing bowls which were of gold, in gold, and which were of silver, in silver, did, the chief of the royal executions, take away.

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (27 ft.), and a capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of the capital was three cubits (4.5 ft.); a network (lattice work) and pomegranates around the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

And out of the city he took a chamberlain that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the host, who enrolled the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city.

But, as for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left remaining, he set over them Gedaliah, son of Ahikam son of Shaphan.

All of the officers of the Judahite army 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.

And it came to pass, in the seventh month, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah a son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, - and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

Then arose all the people, both small and great, and the generals of the forces, and came into Egypt, - for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

and he spake with him kind words, - and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon;