For Yahweh subdued Judah for the sake of Ahaz, king of Israel, for he created disorder in Judah and acted unfaithfully against Yahweh.

for Ahaz took a portion [from] the house of Yahweh and the house of the king and the princes, and he gave [it] to the king of Assyria, but it was no help to him.

And in the time of his distress, King Ahaz continued to act unfaithfully against Yahweh.

Then Ahaz gathered the objects of the house of God, and he cut the objects of the house of God to pieces. And he shut the doors of the house of Yahweh and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

And {in every city} of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and he provoked Yahweh, the God of his ancestors, to anger.

And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done.

In the first year of his kingship, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh and strengthened them.

And he said to them, "Hear me, O Levites! Sanctify yourselves now, and sanctify the house of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, and bring out the defilement from the sanctuary.

For our ancestors acted unfaithfully and did evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh. {They have turned their backs} [on it].

And the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he made them as an abhorrence, as a desolation and an object of scorn, as you see with your own eyes.

Now {it is in my heart} to {make} a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger might turn away from him.

Now, my sons, do not be negligent, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him to serve him and to be his servants and incense burners."

and they gathered their brothers and sanctified themselves, and they went in according to the command of the king because of the words of Yahweh, to purify the house of Yahweh.

And the priests went into the inner [part] of the house of Yahweh to purify [it]. And they brought out all the impurity that they found in the temple of Yahweh [out] to the courtyard of the house of Yahweh. And the Levites took [them] to bring [them] outside to the Wadi Kidron.

And they began to sanctify themselves on the first day of the first month. And on the eighth day of the month they came to the portico of Yahweh. And they sanctified the house of Yahweh for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

And they went into the inner [part] to King Hezekiah and said, "We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh: the altar of burnt offering, all its objects, the table of the rows [of bread] and all its objects,

and all the objects that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he sinned, we have prepared and sanctified. Look, they [are] before the altar of Yahweh."

Then King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the officials of the city, and he went up to the house of Yahweh.

And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a purification offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the descendants of Aaron, the priests, to offer [them] on the altar of Yahweh.

And he stood the Levites [in] the house of Yahweh with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David and Gad, the seer of the king, and Nathan the prophet, for the command [was] by the hand of Yahweh by the hand of his prophets.

Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And at the time the burnt offering began, the song of Yahweh began, and also the trumpets, at the hands of [the] instruments of David king of Israel.

Then King Hezekiah and the princes commanded the Levites to praise Yahweh with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they offered praise with joy, and they bowed down and worshiped.

Then Hezekiah answered and said, "Now {you have consecrated yourselves} to Yahweh. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of Yahweh!" And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all [who were] willing in heart [brought] burnt offerings.

And the number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy cattle, one hundred rams, two hundred lambs--all these [were] to offer to Yahweh.

And beside the many burnt offerings [was] the fat of the peace offerings and the libations for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of Yahweh was established.

Then Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel.

So they let the decree stand, {to make a proclamation} throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, to come to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel.

And the runners went with the letter from the hand of the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah according to the command of the king, saying, "O sons of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers, who acted unfaithfully before Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them as a desolation, as you see.

Now, do not stiffen your neck as your fathers, but give a hand to Yahweh and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve Yahweh your God that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

For when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children [will find] compassion before their captors and return to this land, for Yahweh your God [is] gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him."

The hand of God was also upon Judah, to give them one heart to obey the command of the king and the princes concerning the word of Yahweh.

And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were disgraced, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of Yahweh.

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 a majority of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves. But they ate the Passover sacrifice {otherwise than prescribed}, but Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good Yahweh make atonement unto

everyone whose heart is set to seek God, Yahweh the God of his ancestors, though not according to the cleansing for the sanctuary."

And Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and he healed the people.

And the {Israelites} who were found in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy. And the Levites and the priests were offering praise to Yahweh day by day, with powerful instruments to Yahweh.

And Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites {who were skilled at service} to Yahweh. So they ate the feast seven days, offering peace offerings and giving thanks to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

And Hezekiah appointed working groups of the priests and the Levites, each according to their divisions, {according to the service for priests and Levites}, for burnt offerings, for peace offerings, to serve, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camps of Yahweh.

And the gift of the king [was] out of his own possessions for the burnt offerings--the burnt offerings for the morning and the evening and for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and appointed feasts, as is written in the law of Yahweh.

Then he said to the people, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give a gift for the priests and the Levites, so that they might be strong in the law of Yahweh.

Then the people of Israel and Judah who were living in the cities of Judah, they also brought a tithe of cattle and sheep and a tithe of consecrated objects to Yahweh their God. And they gave heaps [upon] heaps.

When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh and his people Israel.

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, saying, "Since the offerings began to be brought to the house of Yahweh, [we have] eaten and been satisfied, and have much to spare, for Yahweh has blessed his people. Now [see] this abundant remainder!"

And Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Yahweh, and they were prepared.

Now Kore the son of Imlah, the Levite, the gatekeeper of the east gate [was] over the freewill offerings of God, to give offerings to Yahweh and the most holy things.

besides their enrollment by genealogy, to males from three years old and upward, to all who came into the house of Yahweh, {as each day required} for their service in their posts according to their working groups.

And Hezekiah did according to this throughout all Judah. And he did what [is] good and what [is] right and what [is] faithful before Yahweh his God.

With him [is] the arm of flesh, and with us [is] Yahweh our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence with the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

Is not Hezekiah urging you to give you [up] to die by starvation and thirst, saying, "Yahweh our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria"?

And still more his servants said against Yahweh God and against Hezekiah his servant.

And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand."

Then Yahweh sent an angel, and he destroyed every mighty warrior of strength, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shamed face to his land and went into the house of his god. And some of the offspring of his loins fell upon him there with the sword.

So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the all [their enemies], and gave them rest all around.

And many brought tribute to Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations thereafter.

In those days Hezekiah fell ill unto death, and he prayed to Yahweh. And he answered him and gave him a sign.

But Hezekiah humbled himself with respect to the arrogance of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to the detestable things of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the {Israelites}.

And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, [of] which Yahweh had said, "In Jerusalem my name shall be forever."

And he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of Yahweh.

And he himself burned his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. And he practiced sorcery and divination, and he engaged in witchcraft and dealt with mediums and spiritists. And he did much evil in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the {Israelites}.

And Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not listen.

So Yahweh brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria upon them, and they took Manasseh captive with hooks, and they bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

And when he was in distress he entreated Yahweh his God and greatly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors

and prayed to him. And God responded to him and heard his plea and let him return to Jerusalem to his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.

And he removed the foreign gods and the carved image from the house of Yahweh and all the altars which he built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

And he restored the altar of Yahweh and offered sacrifices of peace offerings and thank offerings upon it. And he commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Nevertheless, the people offered at the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.

Now the remainder of the words of Manasseh and his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they [are] in the words of the kings of Israel.

And he did what [was] evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. And Amon sacrificed to all the idols that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them.

And he did not humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father humbled himself, but Amon himself multiplied [his] guilt.

And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the ways of David his ancestor and did not deviate [to] the right or [to] the left.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign [after] he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God.

And they delivered [it] into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they [in turn] gave it to those doing the work who [were] at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair [and] restore the house.

And when they brought out the money that had been brought [to] the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a scroll of the law in the house of Yahweh!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.

They have dispensed the money which was found in the house of Yahweh and have put it into the hand of the overseers and those doing the work."

"Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that [was] poured out on us [is] great, because our ancestors have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll."

And she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Say to the man who sent you all to me:

"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--

But to the king of Judah who sent you to seek Yahweh, thus shall you say to him: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: [As for] the words which you heard,

because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants and you humbled yourself before me and tore your garments and wept before me, now I also have heard,' {declares} Yahweh.

And the king went up to the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites--all the people from great to small--and they read in their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh.

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.

And Josiah removed all the detestable things from the whole land that belonged to the {Israelites} and obligated all who were found in Israel to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not turn aside from following Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah kept the Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover [sacrifice] on the fourteenth day of the first month.

And he set the priests at their posts and encouraged them in the service of the house of Yahweh.

And he said to the Levites who [were] teaching all Israel, who were sanctified to Yahweh, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. There is no [need] to carry it on [your] shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel.

And slaughter the Passover [lamb] and consecrate yourself and prepare for your brothers to do according to the word of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

And they set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the clans of the {families} for the {lay people}, to offer to Yahweh according to what is written in the scroll of Moses. And thus they did with the bulls.

So all the service of Yahweh was prepared on that day to keep the Passover and to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar of Yahweh, according to the command of King Josiah.

Now the remainder of the words of Josiah and his loyal love [for] what is written in the law of Yahweh

Jehoiakim [was] twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God.

And Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon the objects of the house of Yahweh and put them into the temple in Babylon.

Jehoiachin [was] eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with objects of the treasure of the house of Yahweh. And he made Zedekiah his brother king in Judah and Jerusalem.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet {who spoke for} Yahweh.

And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.