So the runners were passing from city to city throughout the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun, - -but they were laughing them to scorn, and mocking them.

But men from Asher and Manasseh, and from Zebulon, were humbled, and they will come to Jerusalem.

And in Judah the power of God gave them one heart to do the orders of the king and the captains, which were taken as the word of the Lord.

Now many people were gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very large assembly.

And they rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem; and they took away all the incense-altars, and cast them into the torrent Kidron.

And they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the second month; and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and hallowed themselves; and they brought the burnt-offerings into the house of Jehovah.

They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them.

For there were many in the congregation that were not hallowed; therefore the Levites had the charge of the slaughtering of the passover-lambs for every one not clean, to hallow them unto Jehovah.

The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: "May the Lord, who is good, forgive

And the children of Israel, that were present at Jerusalem, held the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, with the instruments of praise to Jehovah.

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 gave for heave offerings to the congregation a thousand oxen and seven thousand sheep. And the lords gave to the congregation for heave offerings a thousand oxen and ten thousand sheep. And the priests sanctified themselves, that they were enough.

So all the convocation of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and all the convocation that came in out of Israel, rejoiced, - also the sojourners who were coming in out of the land of Israel, and the dwellers in Judah.

After this, the priests arose, blessed the people, and their voices were heard in prayer all the way to heaven, where God resides in holiness.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

And he bade the people who were dwelling in Jerusalem give the portion of the priests and the Levites, - to the end they might persevere in the law of Yahweh.

The sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of sacred gifts which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and placed them in heaps.

The first store of things was put down in the third month, and in the seventh month the masses were complete.

Then Hezekiah said that store-rooms were to be made ready in the house of the Lord; and this was done.

The offering, the tenth, and the dedicated things were brought faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was the officer in charge of them, and his brother Shimei was second.

Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath and Benaiah were overseers under the authority of Conaniah and Shimei his brother by the appointment of King Hezekiah, and Azariah was the chief officer of the house of God.

Under his authority were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah in the cities of the priests, to distribute faithfully their portions to their brothers by divisions, whether great or small,

besides those from three years old and upward who as males were entered in the genealogical register, all that came into the house of Jehovah, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their charges, according to their divisions,

as well as the priests who were enrolled genealogically according to their fathers’ households, and the Levites from twenty years old and upwards, by their duties and their divisions.

And in the lists were all their little ones and their wives and their sons and daughters, through all the people: they made themselves holy in the positions which they were given.

Also for the sons of Aaron the priests who were in the pasture lands of their cities, or in each and every city, there were men who were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone genealogically enrolled among the Levites.

After these faithful deeds were accomplished, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities, intending to seize them.

he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him.

And there were gathered together much people, so they stopped all the fountains, and the torrent that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, - Wherefore should the kings of Assyria come, and find many waters?

Then he strengthened himself and built up all the walls that were broken down, and raised towers upon [them] and another wall {outside}. And he strengthened the Millo of the city of David and made much weaponry and small shields.

He only has the strength of his own flesh, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles." So the people were encouraged from what King Hezekiah of Judah told them.

After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,

Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands able at all to deliver their land from my hand?

Who from all the gods of these nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, which were able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God shall be able to deliver you from my hand?

They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city.

They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.

Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet were praying about this and crying out to heaven.

And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed every brave warrior, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king returned to his own land in shame. And when he entered the house (temple) of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword.

And many were bringing gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and choice presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.

And so in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, in order to know everything that was in his heart.

And Jehovah will bring upon them the chiefs of the army which were to the king of Assur, and they will take Manasseh with hooks, and they will bind him with fetters and cause him to go to Babel.

And when straits were to him he besought the face of Jehovah his God, and he will humble himself greatly from before the God of his fathers.

And he put the altar of the Lord in order, offering peace-offerings and praise-offerings on it, and said that all Judah were to be servants of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Howbeit, still were, the people, sacrificing in the high places, - only unto Yahweh their God.

They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought to God's temple. The Levites who guarded the door had collected it from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim and from all who were left in Israel, as well as from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the residents of Jerusalem.

Then they gave it into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord used it to restore 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 over the burden bearers, and supervised all the workmen from job to job; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.

"Thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants--all the curses written in the scroll that were read before the king of Judah--

The king went up to the Lord's temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the Levites. All the people were there, from the oldest to the youngest. 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 at his position. And he made the covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commands and statutes and regulations with all his heart and with all his soul, to do the words of the covenant that [were] written on this scroll.

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.

He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel.

Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering 30,000 plus 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions.

Preparations were made, and the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions as prescribed by the king.

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

And they fetched away the burnt offerings, to give them unto the common people as they were divided by ancient houses, for to offer unto the LORD; like as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen too.

And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people.

Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

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.

So all the preparations for the Lord's service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, as prescribed by King Josiah.

Thus the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.

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.

So his servants took him away out of the war-chariot, and conveyed him in a second chariot which he had, and carried him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers, - and, all Judah and Jerusalem, were mourning over Josiah.

The rest of Jehoiakim's accomplishments along with the detestable things that he did that were recorded in his disfavor are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin became king to replace him.

Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy.

And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof were given up to destruction.

Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,

to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.