He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done.

He went in all the ways of his father, being a servant and worshipper of the false gods to which his father had been a servant;

But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against the king, and made Josiah his son king in his place.

Then, after reading it, Shaphan the scribe went in to the king and gave him an account of what had been done, saying, Your servants have given out the money which was in the house, and have given it to the overseers of the work of the house of the Lord.

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Asaiah, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the robes, (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town;) and they had talk with her.

Because your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before me, when you had word of what I said against this place and its people, that they would become a waste and a curse, and you gave signs of grief, weeping before me: truly, I have given ear to you, says the Lord.

And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, small and great; and they were present at his reading of the book of the law which had come to light in the house of the Lord.

Then the king gave orders to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and to the priests of the second order, and to the keepers of the door, to take out of the house of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the stars of heaven; and he had them burned outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and took the dust of them to Beth-el

And he put an end to the false priests, who had been put in their positions by the kings of Judah to see to the burning of offerings in the high places in the towns of Judah and the outskirts of Jerusalem, and all those who made offerings to Baal and to the sun and the moon and the twelve signs and all the stars of heaven.

And he had the houses pulled down of those who were used for sex purposes in the house of the Lord, where women were making robes for the Asherah.

And he made all the priests from the towns of Judah come into Jerusalem, and he made unclean the high places where the priests had been burning offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he had the high places of the evil spirits pulled down which were by the doorway of Joshua, the ruler of the town, on the left side of the way into the town.

And he took away the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the way into the house of the Lord, by the room of Nathan-melech, the unsexed servant, which was in the outer part of the building, and the carriages of the sun he put on fire.

And the altars on the roof of the high room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord, were pulled down and crushed to bits, and the dust of them was put into the stream Kidron.

And the high places before Jerusalem, on the south side of the mountain of destruction, which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for Ashtoreth, the disgusting god of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and for Milcom, the disgusting god of the children of Ammon, the king made unclean.

The stone pillars were broken to bits and the wood pillars cut down, and the places where they had been were made full of the bones of the dead

Then Josiah, turning round, saw on the mountain the places of the dead, and he sent and had the bones taken out of their places and burned on the altar, so making it unclean, as the Lord had said by the man of God when Jeroboam was in his place by the altar on that feast-day. And he, turning his eyes to the resting-place of the man of God who had given word of these things, said:

Then Josiah took away all the houses of the high places in the towns of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had put up, moving the Lord to wrath, and he did with them as he had done in Beth-el

Truly, such a Passover had not been kept in all the days of the judges of Israel or of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah;

And all those who had control of spirits, and the wonder-workers, and the images, and the false gods, and all the disgusting things which were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away, so that he might give effect to the words of the agreement recorded in the book which Hilkiah the priest made discovery of in the house of the Lord.

Never before had there been a king like him, turning to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his power, as the law of Moses says; and after him there was no king like him.

But still the heat of the Lord's wrath was not turned back from Judah, because of all Manasseh had done in moving him to wrath.

And the Lord said, I will send Judah away from before my face, as I have sent Israel; I will have nothing more to do with this town, which I had made mine, even Jerusalem, and the holy house of which I said, My name will be there.

In his days, Pharaoh-necoh, king of Egypt, sent his armies against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went out against him; and he put him to death at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his fathers had done.

And Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, taxing the land by his orders to get the money; the people of the land had to give silver and gold, everyone as he was taxed, to make the payment to Pharaoh-necoh.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord as his fathers had done.

And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldaeans and of the Edomites and of the Moabites and of the children of Ammon; sending them against Judah for its destruction, as he had said by his servants the prophets.

And because of the death of those who had done no wrong, for he made Jerusalem full of the blood of the upright; and the Lord had no forgiveness for it.

And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all his country, from the stream of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father had done.

And he took away all the stored wealth of the Lord's house, and the goods from the king's store-house, cutting up all the gold vessels which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the house of the Lord, as the Lord had said.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.

And because of the wrath of the Lord, this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them all away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon.

And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire;

And the rest of the people who were still in the town, and all those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and all the rest of the workmen, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners;

The two pillars, the great water-vessel and the wheeled bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

One of the pillars was eighteen cubits high, with a crown of brass on it; the crown was three cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same.

Now the captains of the armed forces, hearing that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah ruler, came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah; Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of the Maacathite, came with all their men.

And in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, had been taken prisoner, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the first year of his rule, took Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison;

And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his days a division was made of the earth; and his brother's name was Joktan.

And Tamar, his daughter-in-law, had Perez and Zerah by him. All the sons of Judah were five.

And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And Zeruiah had three sons: Abishai and Joab and Asahel.

And Caleb, the son of Hezron, had children by Azubah his wife, the daughter of Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher and Shobab and Ardon.

And after that, Hezron had connection with the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, whom he took as his wife when he was sixty years old; and she had Segub by him.

And Segub was the father of Jair, who had twenty-three towns in the land of Gilead.

And after the death of Hezron, Caleb had connection with Ephrath, his father Hezron's wife, and she gave birth to his son Asshur, the father of Tekoa.

And Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah: she was the mother of Onam.

And the name of Abishur's wife was Abihail; and she had Ahban and Molid by him.

Now Sheshan had no sons, but only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian servant, whose name was Jarha.

And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha, his servant, as a wife; and she had Attai by him.

And Ephah, Caleb's servant-wife, had Haran and Moza and Gazez; and Haran was the father of Gazez.

And Shobal, the father of Kiriath-jearim, had sons: Haroeh, half of the Manahathites.

He had six sons in Hebron; he was ruling there for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem for thirty-three years.

And in Jerusalem he had four sons, Shimea and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon, by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel;

And Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

And Naarah had Ahuzzam by him, and Hepher and Temeni and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah.

And Jabez was honoured more than his brothers; but his mother had given him the name Jabez, saying, Because I gave birth to him with sorrow.

And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers had only a small number of children, and their family was not as fertile as the children of Judah.

And they put to death the rest of the Amalekites who had got away safely, and made it their living-place to this day.

And they did evil against the God of their fathers, worshipping the gods of the people of the land, whom God had put to destruction before them.

And these are those whom David made responsible for the music in the house of the Lord, after the ark had rest.

Now these are their living-places, the limits inside which they were to put up their tents: to the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, because they had the first selection,

And with them, recorded in generations by their families, were bands of fighting-men, thirty-six thousand of them, for they had a great number of wives and sons.

And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath, who had been living in the land from their birth, put to death, because they came down to take away their cattle.

After that, he had connection with his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to a son, to whom his father gave the name of Beriah, because trouble had come on his family.

And Bela had sons, Addar and Gera, the father of Ehud,

And Azel had five sons, whose names are: Azrikam, his oldest, and Ishmael and Sheariah and Obadiah and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.

And the sons of Ulam were men of war, bowmen, and had a great number of sons and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these were the sons of Benjamin.

Up till then they had been at the king's door to the east. They were door-keepers for the tents of the sons of Levi.

And Shallum, the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his family, the Korahites, were responsible for everything which had to be done in connection with the order of worship, keepers of the doors of the Tent; their fathers had had the care of the tents of the Lord, being keepers of the doorway.

In the past Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, had been ruler over them; may the Lord be with him!

So they and their sons had the care of the doors of the house of the Lord, the house of the Tent, as watchers.

For the four chief door-keepers, who were Levites, had a special position, looking after the rooms and the store-houses of the house of God.

Their sleeping-rooms were round the house of God, for they had the care of it, and were responsible for opening it morning by morning.

Certain of them had the care of the vessels used in worship, to keep an account of them when they came in and when they were taken out again.

And these were those who had the ordering of the music and songs, heads of families of the Levites, who were living in the rooms, and were free from other work, for their work went on day and night.

And Azel had five sons, whose names are: Azrikam, his oldest son, and Ishmael and Sheariah and Obadiah and Hanan: these were the sons of Azel.

Then Saul said to the servant who had the care of his arms, Take your sword and put it through me, before these men without circumcision come and make sport of me. But his servant, full of fear, would not do so. Then Saul took out his sword, falling on it himself.

And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the men of Israel had gone in flight and that Saul and his sons were dead, they went in flight away from their towns; and the Philistines came and took them for themselves.

And when the news came to Jabesh-gilead of what the Philistines had done to Saul,

So death came to Saul because of the sin which he did against the Lord, that is, because of the word of the Lord which he kept not; and because he went for directions to one who had an evil spirit,

So all the responsible men of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they put the holy oil on David and made him king over Israel, as the Lord had said by Samuel.

Now these are the chief of David's men of war who were his strong supporters in the kingdom, and, with all Israel, made him king, as the Lord had said about Israel.

He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines had come together for the fight, near a bit of land full of barley; and the people went in flight before the Philistines.

And three of the thirty went down to David, to the rock, into the strong place of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim.

At that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem.

And Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the thirty, for he put to death three hundred with his spear, but he had not a name among the three.

Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, a fighting-man of Kabzeel, had done great acts; he put to death two young lions going into their secret place; and he went down into a hole and put a lion to death in time of snow.

These were the acts of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who had a great name among the thirty men of war.

Zelek the Ammonite, and Naharai the Berothite, the servant who had the care of the arms of Joab, the son of Zeruiah;

And from day to day more supporters came to David, till he had a great army like the army of God.

These are the numbers of the chiefs of the armed men, ready for war, who came to David at Hebron, to give the kingdom of Saul into his hands, as the Lord had said.

And of the children of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand; for up to that time the greater part of them had been true to Saul.

And of the children of Issachar, there were two hundred chiefs, men who had expert knowledge of the times and what it was best for Israel to do, and all their brothers were under their orders.

For three days they were there with David, feasting at his table, for their brothers had made ready food for them.

Then David had discussions with the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds and with every chief.

And David said to all the men of Israel who had come together there, If it seems good to you and if it is the purpose of the Lord our God, let us send to all the rest of our brothers, everywhere in the land of Israel, and to the priests and the Levites in their towns and the country round them, and get them to come together here to us;

And the wrath of the Lord, burning against Uzza, sent destruction on him because he had put his hand on the ark, and death came to him there before God.

So David did not let the ark come back to him to the town of David, but had it turned away and put into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

And the ark of God was in the house of Obed-edom for three months; and the Lord sent a blessing on the house of Obed-edom and on all he had.