For a multitude of the people, many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, and they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, Jehovah, who is good, forgive every one

So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.

Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

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.

Hezekiah also appointed the king’s [personal] portion of his goods: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and for the New Moons and for the appointed feasts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord.

In addition, he gave orders to the people of Jerusalem to give to the priests and Levites that part which was theirs by right, so that they might be strong in keeping the law of the Lord.

And as soon as the commandment was published, the children of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of corn, new wine and oil and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all things.

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

Hezekiah ordered that storerooms be prepared in the Lord's temple. When this was done,

They faithfully brought in the contributions and the tithes and the consecrated things; and 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.

Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the eastern gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to apportion the contributions for the Lord and the most holy things.

As well as to all the males, of three years old and over, listed by their families, who went into the house of the Lord to do what was needed day by day, for their special work with their divisions.

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

The genealogical registration included all their little children, their wives, and their sons and daughters, for the whole assembly, because they consecrated themselves faithfully in holiness.

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

He was diligent in every deed that he began in the service of God’s temple, in the instruction and the commands, in order to seek his God, and he prospered.

And, when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, - and that, his face, was - to war, against Jerusalem,

And there was gathered together much people, and they stopped all the fountains, and the torrent that flows through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?

And he took courage, and built all the wall that was broken down and carried up thereon towers, and, on the outside, another wall, and strengthened Millo, the city of David,-and made weapons in abundance, and bucklers,

He has with him mere human strength, but the Lord our God is with us to help us and fight our battles!" The army was encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

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,

Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?

Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’”

Talking of the God of Jerusalem as if he was like the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands.

And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the princes and the captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels made him fall 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.

In those days, was Hezekiah sick unto death, - and, when he prayed unto Yahweh, he was entreated of him and, a wonderful token, he gave him.

But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

But then Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem humbled themselves and abandoned their pride, and the Lord was not angry with them for the rest of Hezekiah's reign.

Hezekiah was very wealthy and greatly respected. He made storehouses for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, and all his other valuable possessions.

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.

Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

Hezekiah passed away and was buried on the ascent of the tombs of the descendants of David. All the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem buried him with great honor. His son Manasseh replaced him as king.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh,-according to the abominable ways of the nations, whom Yahweh dispossessed from before the sons of Israel.

For he put up again the high places which had been pulled down by his father Hezekiah; and he made altars for the Baals, and pillars of wood, and was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven;

And, he, caused his sons to pass through the fire, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and practised hidden arts and used divination, and practised sorcery, and appointed a necromancer, and a wizard, - he exceeded in doing the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger;

When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

He also eliminated the foreign gods and idols from the LORD's Temple, along with all of the altars that he had built in Jerusalem and on the mountain where the LORD's Temple was located, and he discarded them outside the city.

His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the Hozai.

Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace. His son Amon replaced him as king.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done, - and, unto all the images which Manasseh his father had made, Amon offered sacrifice, and did serve them.

He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Amon was guilty of great sin.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

And he did that which was right, in the eyes of Yahweh, - and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside, to the right hand or to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.

He had the altars of the Baals broken down, while he himself was present; and the sun-images which were placed on high over them he had cut down; and the pillars of wood and the metal images he had broken up and crushed to dust, dropping the dust over the resting-places of the dead who had made offerings to them.

Now in the eighteenth year of his rule, when the land and the house had been made clean, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the ruler of the town, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to make good what was damaged in the house of the Lord his God.

They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the doorkeepers, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And they gave it to the overseers of the work of the Lord's house, and the overseers gave it to the workmen working in the house, for building it up and making good what was damaged;

And the men did the work well; and those who had authority over them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, who were to be responsible for seeing that the work was done; and others of the Levites, who were expert with instruments of music,

also over the burden-bearers, and such as took the lead, for everyone who was working in any manner of service, - and, of the Levites, were scribes and officers and doorkeepers.

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.

Then Shaphan brought the book to the king and reported further word to the king, saying, “Everything that was entrusted to your servants they are doing.

They have also emptied out the money which was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hands of the supervisors and the workmen.”

“Go. Ask Yahweh for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that was found. For great is the Lord’s wrath that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord in order to do everything written in this book.”

So Hilkiah, and those whom the king sent, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the robes (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town); and they had talk with her about this thing.

Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the Lord.

The king went up to the house of the Lord and 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 in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.

While standing in his appointed place, the king made a public covenant with the LORD to follow the LORD, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, and to do so with all of his heart and soul, and to carry out what was written in the covenant contained in the book.

He also made everyone who was present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand in agreement with him. As a result, the inhabitants of Jerusalem reconfirmed the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the lands of the children of Israel, and made all who were in Israel servants of the Lord their God. And as long as he was living they were true to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command.

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.

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.

And after that, they made ready for themselves and for the priests; for the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burned offerings and the fat till night; so the Levites made ready what was needed for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

the singers also, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the seer of the king, and, the doorkeepers, were at the several doors, - there was no need for them to remove from their service, for, their brethren the Levites, prepared for them.

So all the service of the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah.

And there had not been kept, a passover like it, in Israel, since the days of Samuel the prophet, - yea, none of the kings of Israel, had kept such a passover as was kept by Josiah and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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

Nevertheless, Josiah turned not his face from him, but made him ready to fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco out of the mouth of God. And when he was come to fight in the valley of Megiddo,

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 carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

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.

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.

And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh his God,-he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, from the mouth of Yahweh.

He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return to the Lord God of Israel.

but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that was stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.

He carried away to Babylon all the items in God's temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the Lord's temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials.

And the house of God was burned and the wall of Jerusalem broken down; all its great houses were burned with fire and all its beautiful vessels given up to destruction.

He deported to Babylon those who had escaped from the sword; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the kingdom of Persia was established there,

So that the words of the Lord, which he said by the mouth of Jeremiah, might come true, till the land had had pleasure in her Sabbaths; for as long as she was waste the land kept the Sabbath, till seventy years were complete.

Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the words which the Lord had said by the mouth of Jeremiah might come true, the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, was moved by the Lord, and he made a public statement and had it given out through all his kingdom and put in writing, saying,