Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced,

So they said to the king of Assyria, "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land."

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land."

But Yahweh your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of all of your enemies."

He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for up to those days the {Israelites} were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.

He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah.

because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, and they transgressed his covenant; all that he had commanded Moses, the servant of Yahweh, they did not listen [to] nor did they obey.

At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria.

But if you say to me, 'On Yahweh our God we trust,' [is] it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'In the presence of this altar you shall bow down [only] in Jerusalem?'

Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all of the words of [the] chief commander whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to insult [the] living God, and he will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remainder who are left.'"

"Thus you shall say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, 'Let not your God whom you [are] trusting deceive you, by his saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!"

Then Hezekiah prayed before the face of Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel who lives [above] the cherubim. You [are] God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the world; you have made the heavens and the earth.

Incline your ears and hear; open, O Yahweh, your eyes and see and hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to insult the living God.

So then, O Yahweh our God, rescue us, please, from his hand, that all of the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Yahweh, you alone are God!"

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'What you have prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them [were] dead corpses.

It happened that he [was] worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword. Then they escaped [into] the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

"O Yahweh, please remember how I went about before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and [remember] the good that I have done in your eyes." Then Hezekiah {wept bitterly}.

"Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor, "I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I [am about to] heal you. On the third day you shall go up [to] the temple of Yahweh.

Hezekiah heard about them and showed them all of the house of his treasure, both the silver and the gold, the spices, the good olive oil, the room of his weapons, and all that could be found in his treasuries. There was nothing that he did not show them in his palace and in all of his kingdom.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken [is] good," and he thought, "Is it not that peace and security shall be in my days?"

therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle.

He abandoned Yahweh the God of his ancestors and did not walk in the way of Yahweh.

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

And to the king of Judah who sent all of you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, '[Concerning] the words that you have heard,

Then he brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests from Geba up to Beersheba burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on the left of each gate of the city.

He also broke into pieces the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah poles and covered their sites [with] human bones.

When Josiah turned and saw the tombs which [were] there on the hill, he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned [them] on the altar. [Thus] he defiled them according to the word of Yahweh that the man of God had proclaimed who had proclaimed these things.

Then he said, "What [is] this gravestone that I [am] seeing?" The men of the city said to him, "[This is the] tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel."

Then the king commanded all of the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as has been written on the scroll of this covenant.

Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold.

Then the city was breached, and all of the men of war [entered] by night by way of the gate between the wall which was by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans [were] against the city all around, so he left by the way of the Arabah.

Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

And Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would surely bless me and enlarge my border. And may your hand be with me, that you would keep me from evil so that it might not harm me!" And God granted what he asked.

And they found fertile and good pasture, and the land [was] very broad, quiet, and at ease, for the former inhabitants there [were] from Ham.

And the sons of Gad lived near to them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:

And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who [were] with them were given into their hand, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he responded to their prayer because they trusted in him.

For many [were] slain because the war was of God. And they lived under them until the exile.

But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pilneser, king of Assyria, and he took them [into exile], namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, until this day.

And their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

To the Merarites twelve cities [were] allotted according to their clans out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

And out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the commander of the house of God;

and their kinsmen, heads of the house of their fathers, one thousand seven hundred and sixty mighty men [for] the work of the service of the house of God.

until then they [were] gatekeepers at the gate of the king on the east [side] toward the camps of the Levites.

For the four mighty gatekeepers, they who [were] Levites, {were entrusted} and [were] over the chambers and over the storerooms of the house of God.

And they lodged all around the house of God, for upon them [was] a responsibility. And {they had charge of opening [the house of God] every morning}.

{For some time now}, even when Saul was king, you were {the one who led the army of Israel in battle}. And Yahweh your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel and will be leader over my people Israel.'"

And David had a craving, and he said, "Who could give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem that [is] by the gate!"

Then the three broke through into the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that [was] by the gate and brought [it] and came to David. But David would not drink it and poured it out before Yahweh.

And he said, "Far be it from me [that] I would do this before my God. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For {at the risk of their lives} they brought it." And he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

These [were] the sons of Gad, leaders of the army. The smallest one [was] as a hundred, and the greatest as a thousand.

And David went out {to meet them} and answered and said to them, "If you come in peace to me, to help me, {my heart will be joined with you}, but if [you come] to betray me to my adversaries, although [there is] no wrong on my hands, may the God of our fathers see and pass judgment."

Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the thirty [who said]: "[We are] yours, O David! And [we are] with you, O son of Jesse! Peace! Peace to you, and peace to those who help you, for your God helps you." So David appointed them as heads of the troops.

{Day in and day out} they came to David to help him until [there was] a great army, like the army of God.

And David said to all the assembly of Israel, "{If it seems good to you} and before Yahweh our God, {let us send word abroad} to our brothers who remain in all the land of Israel and [to] the priests and Levites with them in the cities with their pasturelands that they might be gathered to us.

Then let us bring around the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul."

And David summoned all Israel from Shihor of Egypt up to Lebo-Hamath to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-Jearim.

And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, Kiriath-Jearim of Judah, to bring up from there the ark of Yahweh God [who] is enthroned [between] the cherubim, which is called the name.

And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio were driving the cart.

Now David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all [their] strength, and with songs, lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

And Yahweh {was angry} with Uzza, and he struck him down because he reached his hand upon the ark. And he died there before God.

And David feared God on that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God [home] to me?"

And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And Yahweh blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that he had.

Then David inquired of God, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you put them into my hand?" And Yahweh said to him, "Go up. I will put them into your hand."

And he went up to Baal-Perazim, and David struck them there. And David said, "God has burst out against my enemies by my hand like waters burst out." Therefore they will call the name of this place Baal-Perazim.

Then David inquired again of God. And God said to him, "You shall not go up after them. Go around from before them and come against them the opposite [way] of the balsam trees.

And it shall be [that] when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out into battle, for God goes out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines."

And David did as God commanded him, and they struck the camp of the Philistines from Gibeon to Gezer.

And David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he established a place for the ark of God. And he pitched a tent for it.

Then David ordered [that] none except the Levites should carry the ark of God, for Yahweh had chosen them to carry the ark of Yahweh and to serve him forever.

And he said to them, "You [are] the heads of the {families} for the Levites. Sanctify yourselves and your brothers and bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to [the place] I have established for it.

Because the first time you did not, [and] Yahweh our God burst out against us, for we did not care for it according to the law."

Then the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

And the sons of the Levites carried the ark of God according to what Moses commanded, according to the word of Yahweh, on their shoulders with the carrying poles upon them.

And Shebaniah, Jehoshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Elizezer the priests {sounded the trumpets} before the ark of God. And Obed-Edom and Jehiah [were] gatekeepers for the ark.

And it happened [that] when God helped the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

And they brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God.

Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of Yahweh, to invoke, thank, and praise Yahweh the God of Israel.

And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests [blew] on the trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

He [is] Yahweh our God; his judgments [are] in all the earth.

Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he [is] good; his loyal love [is] everlasting.

Then say, "Save us, O God of our salvation; gather us and rescue us from the nations that [we may] give thanks to your holy name [and] glory in your praise.

Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!" Then all the people said, "Amen!" and praised Yahweh.

And Heman and Jeduthun with them [had] trumpets and cymbals for making music, along with instruments for the song of God. And the sons of Jeduthun [were] at the gate.

And Nathan said to David, "Whatever [is] in your heart, do, for God [is] with you."

And it happened that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut down your enemies from before you and will make a name for you, like the name of the great ones on the earth.

Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, "Who [am] I, O Yahweh God, and what [is] my house that you have brought me thus far?

And this was a small [matter] in your eyes, O God. And you have spoken concerning the house of your servant for a long [time] and have shown me {future generations to come}, O Yahweh God.

O Yahweh, there is none like you, and there is no God except you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

And who [is] like your people Israel, [the] one nation upon earth whom God went to redeem for himself, to establish for you a reputation for great and awesome things, to drive out nations from before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?

And you made your people Israel an everlasting nation for yourself. And you, O Yahweh, became their God.

And let your name be established and be magnified forever, saying, 'Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God, and may the house of David your servant be established before you.'

For you, my God, {have informed} your servant [that] you will build a house for him. Therefore, your servant has found [courage] to pray before you.

So now, O Yahweh, you yourself [are] God, and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.

So Hanun took the servants of David and shaved them and cut off their garments at the middle, up to the buttocks, and sent them away.

Be strong! Let us strengthen ourselves on behalf of our people and on behalf of the cities of our God. And may Yahweh do [what is] good in his eyes."