So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the kings of Aram and of Israel, who are rising up against me.”

He removed from the house of the Lord the covered way for the Sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entrance of the king, because of the king of Assyria [who might confiscate them].

Now this came about because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared [and worshiped] other gods

and walked in the customs of the [pagan] nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons (descendants) of Israel, and in the pagan customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.

There they burned incense on all the high places, just as the [pagan] nations whom the Lord had deported before them; and they did evil and contemptible things, provoking the Lord [to anger].

However they did not listen, but stiffened their necks as did their fathers who did not believe (trust in, rely on, remain steadfast to) the Lord their God.

They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, as well as His warnings that he gave them. And they followed vanity [that is, false gods, idols] and became vain (empty-headed). They followed the [pagan practices of the] nations which surrounded them, although the Lord had commanded that they were not to do as they did.

So one of the priests whom they had exiled from Samaria came [back] and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear [and worship] the Lord.

They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods, following the custom of the nations from among whom they had been sent into exile.

To this day they act in accordance with their former [pagan] customs: they do not [really] fear the Lord, nor do they obey their statutes and ordinances, nor the law, nor the commandments which the Lord commanded the sons (descendants) of Jacob, whom He named Israel;

with whom the Lord had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them.

But the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.

When they called for the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the [king’s] household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the secretary went out to [meet] them.

You say (but they are only empty words) ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me?

Now pay attention: you are relying on Egypt, on that staff of crushed reed; if a man leans on it, it will only go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust and rely on him.

But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to say these things? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, [who are doomed by the siege] to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you?”

Who among all the gods of the lands have rescued their lands from my hand, that the Lord would rescue Jerusalem from my hand?’”

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the [royal] household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn [in grief and despair] and told him what the Rabshakeh had said.

Then he sent Eliakim who was in charge of his household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. So offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left [in Judah].’”

“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem shall not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Did the gods of the nations whom my forefathers destroyed rescue them—Gozan and Haran [of Mesopotamia] and Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

‘Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!

‘And some of your sons (descendants) who will be born to you will be taken away [as captives]; and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

He did [great] evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with the [idolatrous] repulsive acts of the [pagan] nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

But they did not listen; and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these repulsive acts, having done more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;

Then the people of the land [of Judah] killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

And have them deliver it to the hands of the workmen who have been appointed over the house of the Lord, and have them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages of the house—

Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to him: “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have placed it in the hands of the workmen who have been appointed over the house of the Lord.”

She said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,

But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, you shall say this to him: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Regarding the words which you have heard,

He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense [to pagan gods] in the high places in Judah’s cities and all around Jerusalem—also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations [of the zodiac], and to all the [starry] host of heaven.

Josiah brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, and burned it there, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people [who had sacrificed to it].

Further, the altar that was at Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

And as Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and had the bones taken from the graves, and burned them on the altar and [thereby] desecrated it, in accordance with the word of the Lord which the man of God prophesied, who proclaimed these things [about this altar, naming Josiah before he was born].

Then Josiah said, “What is this monument (gravestone) that I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

Before him there was no king like Josiah who turned to the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, in accordance with all the Law of Moses; nor did anyone like him arise after him.

All the army of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) who were with the captain of the bodyguard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard deported [into exile] the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had joined the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

And from the city [of Jerusalem] he took an officer who was in command of the men of war, and five men from the king’s personal advisors who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land [for military service] and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city.

Now over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah, he appointed [as governor] Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

But in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [who had a claim to be governor], came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

Pathrus, and Casluh, from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtor.

These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob): Bela the son of Beor; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

When Husham died, Hadad [I of Edom] the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; the name of his city was Avith.

The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; the three were born to him by Shua’s daughter the Canaanitess. Er, Judah’s eldest, was evil in the Lord’s sight, and He put him to death.

The son of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who violated the ban [by taking things from Jericho that had been banned].

The sons of Hezron who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai [that is, Caleb].

Azubah died, and Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.

Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel [the skillful craftsman who made the furnishings of the tabernacle].

Segub became the father of Jair, who [later] had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

The families of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithia daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took: she conceived and gave birth to Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

and Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem. These are ancient words (genealogical records).

These were the potters and those who lived [among plantations and hedges] at Netaim and Gederah; they lived there with the king for his work.

They found rich, good pasture, and the [cleared] land was wide, quiet, and peaceful; for those who had lived there previously came from Ham [and had left it a better place for those who came after them].

These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and they attacked their tents and the Meunites (foreigners) who were found there, and utterly destroyed them to this day; and they settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks.

They destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and they have lived there to this day (the date of this writing).

Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a leader of the tribe of Reuben.

Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who lived in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.

In the days of King Saul they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hands; and they lived in their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead.

The sons of Gad lived opposite them in the land of Bashan, as far as Salecah:

They were given help against them, and the Hagrites were handed over to them, and all who were allied with them; for they cried out to God [for help] in the battle; and He granted their entreaty because they relied on and trusted in Him.

But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the prostitute with the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

and Johanan became the father of Azariah (it was he who was priest in the house (temple) which Solomon built in Jerusalem)

Their relatives the Levites [who were not descended from Aaron] were appointed for all the other kinds of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his Aramean concubine bore; she gave birth to Machir the father of Gilead.

Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead were killed by men who were natives of Gath, because they came down to take their livestock.

Beriah’s daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and also Uzzen-sheerah.

The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith.

Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera—he forced them into exile; he became the father of Uzza and Ahihud.

The sons of Elpaal: Eber, Misham, and Shemed, who built Ono and Lod, with its towns;

and Beriah and Shema, who were heads of fathers’ households of the inhabitants of Aijalon, who drove out the inhabitants of Gath;

and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites [near Jerusalem].

who until now was assigned to the king’s gate on the east side) they were the gatekeepers for the camp of the Levites.

These were heads of fathers’ households of the Levites according to their generations, chief men, who lived in Jerusalem.

When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

Then all Israel gathered to David at Hebron, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel; and the Lord your God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall be prince and leader over My people Israel.’”

Now these are the chiefs of David’s mighty men, who strongly supported him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, in accordance with the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

This is the list of David’s mighty men: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty [heroes]. He lifted up his spear against three hundred whom he killed at one time.

and he said, “Far be it from me before my God that I would do this thing! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For they brought it at the risk of their lives.” So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

These are the ones who came to David at Ziklag, while he still concealed himself from Saul the son of Kish; they were among the courageous men who helped him in battle.

Courageous men from the Gadites came over to David in the stronghold in the wilderness, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as gazelles on the mountains.

These are the men who crossed over the Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all its banks and they put to flight all those in the valleys, east and west.

Then the [Holy] Spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said,“We are yours, O David,
And with you, O son of Jesse!
Peace, peace be to you,
And peace be to him who helps you;
For your God helps you.” Then David accepted and received them and made them officers of his troops.

These are the numbers of the [armed] units equipped for war who came to David at Hebron to turn [over] the kingdom of Saul to him, in accordance with the word of the Lord.

Those of the tribe of Judah who carried shield and spear were 6,800, armed for war;

Of the half-tribe of Manasseh, 18,000, who were designated by name to come and make David king.

Of the tribe of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, two hundred chiefs; and all their relatives were at their command;

Of the tribe of Dan, 28,600 men who could draw up in battle formation.

Also those who were [living] near them [from] as far as [the tribes of] Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen, abundant supplies of flour, cakes of figs and raisins, wine, [olive] oil, oxen, and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.

David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send word everywhere to our fellow countrymen who remain in all the land of Israel, and to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, so that they may meet with us;

David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim, the ark which is called by His name.

Now these are the names of the children born [to him] in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

Because God was helping the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord [to do it carefully and safely], they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who carried the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah, director of the music of the singers. David also wore an ephod (a priestly upper garment) of linen.