So Jotham strengthened himself because he did not waver in obeying the Lord his God.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not what was right in the sight of Jehovah, like David his father,

Instead, he lived like the kings of Israel did. He cast metal images of Baal,

And the sons of Israel, carried away captive, from among their brethren two hundred thousand, wives, sons and daughters, moreover also, of much spoil, did they plunder them, - and brought the spoil to Samaria.

At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.

And Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and troubled him, and did not support him.

Ahaz gathered riches from the Lord's temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.

And in the time of his trouble, this same King Ahaz did even more evil against the Lord.

The rest of his accomplishments, and records of everything he did from first to last are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

Ahaz passed away and was buried in the City of David; they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.

And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done.

For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God and abandoned him! They turned away from the Lord's dwelling place and rejected him.

They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.

and the priests slaughtered them, and sin-cleansed, with their blood, the altar, to put a propitiatory-covering over all Israel,-because, for all Israel, did the king appoint the ascending-sacrifice and the offering for bearing sin.

But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

And they will set up a word to cause a voice to pass in all Israel, from the well of the oath, and even to judgment, to come to do the passover to Jehovah God of Israel in Jerusalem: for they did not for much time as written.

Don’t become obstinate now like your fathers did. Give your allegiance to Yahweh, and come to His sanctuary that He has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God so that He may turn His burning anger away from you,

And they arose and put away the altars that were in Jerusalem. And thereto all the incense they did away and cast them into the brook Kidron.

For [there were] many in the assembly who did not consecrate themselves, so the Levites [were] over the killing of the Passover sacrifices for all who [were] not clean, to consecrate [them] to Yahweh.

For, the multitude of the people, many out of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, for they did eat the passover, otherwise than as was written, - for Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May Yahweh the Good, put a propitiatory-covering about

And Hezekiah spake unto the heart of all the Levites who were giving good instruction respecting Yahweh, - and they did eat the appointed feast seven days, sacrificing the peace-offerings, and offering praise unto Yahweh, God of their fathers.

After this, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, and so they did and they were very happy to do so!

For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.

Everyone in the assembly of Judah rejoiced, as did the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people who gathered together from throughout Israel, including those who came from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah.

And, as for the sons of Israel and Judah who were dwelling in the cities of Judah, even they, a tithe of oxen, and sheep, and a tithe of hallowed things, which had been hallowed unto Yahweh their God, did bring in and pile up - heaps, heaps.

Hezekiah gave an order to prepare storerooms in the LORD's Temple, and so they did.

For to the fidelity of them did men commit their sanctified gifts. And thereto among the children of Aaron the priests were men named by name in the fields of the suburbs of all their cities, city by city, for to give portions to all the males of the priests and to all that were reckoned among the Levites.

Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah; and he did what was good, right and true before the Lord his God.

Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered.

He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,

Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

Will ye not know what I did, I and my fathers, to all the peoples of the lands? Being able, were the gods of the nations of the lands able to deliver their land from my hand?

And yet more did his servants speak against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.

He also wrote letters to mock Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying against Him:

Just like the national gods of the lands that did not deliver their people from my power, so Hezekiah’s God will not deliver His people from my power.

Thus did Yahweh save Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and out of the hand of every one, - and gave them rest on every side.

But, not according to the benefit done unto him, did Hezekiah make return, for uplifted was his heart, - and so there came upon him, wrath, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and the good he did, are recorded in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him, honour, in his death, - and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

And Manasseh made Judah and the people of Jerusalem go out of the true way, so that they did more evil than those nations whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.

And Yahweh spake unto Manasseh and unto his people, but they did not give ear.

Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord as Manasseh his father had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

Moreover, he did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done, but Amon multiplied guilt.

He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about;

And in the wildernesses of them round about he plucked asunder the altars and the groves and did beat them and stamp them to powder, and beat down the idols throughout all the land of Israel: and then returned to Jerusalem again.

And they gave it into the hand of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and they gave it to the workmen who wrought in the house of Jehovah to reinstate and repair the house:

The men did the work faithfully with foremen over them to supervise: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites, and the Levites, all who were skillful with musical instruments.

They were also in charge of the burden bearers [who carried heavy loads], and supervised all the workmen in any kind of service; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

Then did the king command Hilkiah - and Ahikam son of Shaphan - and Abdon son of Micah - and Shaphan the scribe - and Asaiah servant of the king, saying:

Because your heart was tender, and you did humble yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbled yourself before me, and did tear your clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard you also, says the LORD.

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.

Moreover, he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

and said to the Levites who gave instruction to all Israel as to the things which were hallowed unto Yahweh, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon son of David king of Israel did build, it is not yours as a burden on the shoulder, - Now, serve ye Yahweh your God, and his people Israel;

And, his rulers, willingly, to the people and to the priests and to the Levites, presented, - Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, chief rulers of the house of God, unto the priests, did give, for passover offerings, two thousand and six hundred, and, of bullocks, three hundred;

And they put the Passover lambs to death, the blood being drained out by the priests when it was given to them, and the Levites did the skinning.

Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did this also with the bulls.

The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service, because the Levites their brethren prepared for them.

There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of Megiddo.

The rest of the events of Josiah's reign, including the faithful acts he did in obedience to what is written in the law of the Lord

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

And, some of the utensils of the house of Yahweh, did Nebuchadnezzar carry to Babylon, - and put them in his own temple in Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.

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

He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the Lord.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him.