But have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, like the harlotries of the house of Ahab, and also have slain your brothers of your father's house, who were better than yourself:

Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without anyone's regret. However they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.

But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal descendants of the house of Judah.

But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons that were being slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.

But let none come into the house of the LORD, except the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD.

And the Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else comes into the house, he shall be put to death: but you be with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out.

And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you hasten the matter. But the Levites hastened it not.

But Jehoiada grew old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and repay it.

And when they were departed from him, (for they left him severely wounded,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchers of the kings.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.

But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with you; for the LORD is not with Israel, not with all the children of Ephraim.

But if you will go, do it, be strong for the battle: but God shall make you fall before the enemy: for God has power to help, and to cast down.

And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give you much more than this.

But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and killed three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It belongs not unto you, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither shall it be for your honor from the LORD God.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: although he entered not into the temple of the LORD. But the people acted yet corruptly.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:

But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage that reaches up unto heaven.

And now you purpose to subjugate the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God?

For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.

For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings: therefore 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.

Now be you not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.

For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon everyone

With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people encouraged themselves by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

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

But Hezekiah returned not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the nations, which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;

And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

But the people of the land killed all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly among all the lay people.

But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war: for God commanded me to make haste: cease from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroys you not.

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

And these were they who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harhsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not prove their father's house, and their descent, whether they were of Israel:

These sought their listing among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as defiled, excluded from the priesthood.

From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers' houses, who were old men, who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel, said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.

But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned an answer by letter concerning this matter.

But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

For we were slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to rebuild the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

But if you turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though some of you were cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Therefore the king said unto me, Why is your countenance sad, seeing you are not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid,

Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed at us, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you do? will you rebel against the king?

Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.

But the refuse gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David.

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry, and felt great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being repaired, and that the breaks began to be closed, then they were very angry,

But the former governors that had been before me laid burdens upon the people, and had taken of them food and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me harm.

Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as you say, but you invent them out of your own heart.

And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Now the city was large and great: but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.

And these were they who went up also from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer: but they could not prove their father's house, nor their descendants, whether they were of Israel.

These sought their registration among those that were enrolled by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as defiled, put from the priesthood.

But they and our fathers acted presumptuously, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to your commandments,

And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not.

But after they had rest, they did evil again before you: therefore you left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto you, you heard them from heaven; and many times did you deliver them according to your mercies;

And testified against them, that you might bring them again unto your law: yet they acted presumptuously, and hearkened not unto your commandments, but sinned against your judgments, (which if a man does, he shall live in them;) and turned the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

Yet you are just in all that is brought upon us; for you have done right, but we have done wickedly:

Now these are the leaders of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt everyone in his own possession in their cities; Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon's servants.

But the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gispa were over the Nethinim.

Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.

But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:

And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the language of Judah, but according to the language of each people.

But queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his eunuchs: therefore was the king very angry, and his anger burned within him.

And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus.

For this deed of the queen shall become known to all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be said, King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and paid homage to Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor paid him homage.

The couriers went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.

So Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told it to her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but you and your father's house shall be destroyed: and who knows whether you are come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor trembled before him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.

Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow I am invited unto her also with the king.

And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hastened to his house mourning, and having his head covered.

And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the descendants of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.

The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, they killed; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.

For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.