Also -- they have shut the doors of the porch, and quench the lamps, and perfume they have not made, and burnt-offering have not caused to ascend in the sanctuary to the God of Israel,

and they gather their brethren, and sanctify themselves, and come in, according to the command of the king in the matters of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah,

and the priests come in to the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it, and bring out all the uncleanness that they have found in the temple of Jehovah to the court of the house of Jehovah, and the Levites receive it, to take it out to the brook Kidron without.

And they begin on the first of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they have come to the porch of Jehovah, and they sanctify the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they have finished.

And they come in within unto Hezekiah the king, and say, 'We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and the table of the arrangement, and all its vessels,

and all the vessels that king Ahaz cast away in his reign -- in his trespass -- we have prepared and sanctified, and lo, they are before the altar of Jehovah.'

and they bring in seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven young he-goats, for a sin-offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah; and he saith to sons of Aaron, the priests, to cause them to ascend on the altar of Jehovah.

And they slaughter the oxen, and the priests receive the blood, and sprinkle on the altar; and they slaughter the rams, and sprinkle the blood on the altar; and they slaughter the lambs, and sprinkle the blood on the altar;

and they bring nigh the he-goats of the sin-offering before the king and the assembly, and they lay their hands upon them;

And Hezekiah the king saith, and the princes, to the Levites to give praise to Jehovah in the words of David, and of Asaph the seer, and they praise -- unto joy, and they bow, and do obeisance.

for they have not been able to make it at that time, for the priests have not sanctified themselves sufficiently, and the people have not been gathered to Jerusalem.

and they establish the thing, to cause to pass over an intimation into all Israel, from Beer-Sheba even unto Dan, to come in to make a passover to Jehovah, God of Israel, in Jerusalem, for not for a long time had they done as it is written.

And the runners are passing over from city to city, in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: and they are laughing at them, and mocking at them,

And they arise and turn aside the altars that are in Jerusalem, and all the perfume altars they have turned aside, and cast them to the brook Kidron;

and they slaughter the passover-offering on the fourteenth of the second month, and the priests and the Levites have been ashamed, and sanctify themselves, and bring in burnt-offerings to the house of Jehovah.

And they stand on their station according to their ordinance; according to the law of Moses the man of God the priests are sprinkling the blood out of the hand of the Levites,

And Hezekiah speaketh unto the heart of all the Levites, those giving good understanding concerning Jehovah, and they eat the appointed thing seven days; sacrificing sacrifices of peace-offerings, and making confession to Jehovah, God of their fathers.

And all the assembly take counsel to keep other seven days, and they keep seven days with joy;

And he saith to the people, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests, and of the Levites, so that they are strengthened in the law of Jehovah;

and at the spreading forth of the thing have the sons of Israel multiplied the first-fruit of corn, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field, and the tithe of the whole in abundance they have brought in.

And the sons of Israel and Judah, those dwelling in cities of Judah, they also a tithe of herd and flock, and a tithe of the holy things that are sanctified to Jehovah their God, have brought in, and they give -- heaps, heaps;

in the third month they have begun to lay the foundation of the heaps, and in the seventh month they have finished.

And Hezekiah saith to prepare chambers in the house of Jehovah, and they prepare,

and they bring in the heave-offering, and the tithe, and the holy things faithfully; and over them is a leader, Conaniah the Levite, and Shimei his brother is second;

and to the genealogy among all their infants, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters to all the congregation, for in their faithfulness they sanctify themselves in holiness.

and he taketh counsel with his heads and his mighty ones, to stop the waters of the fountains that are at the outside of the city -- and they help him,

and much people are gathered, and they stop all the fountains and the brook that is rushing into the midst of the land, saying, 'Why do the kings of Asshur come, and have found much water?'

And they call with a great voice in Jewish, against the people of Jerusalem who are on the wall, to frighten them, and to trouble them, that they may capture the city,

and they speak against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the peoples of the land -- work of the hands of man.

And Hezekiah the king prayeth, and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet, concerning this, and they cry to the heavens,

And the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and his kind acts, lo, they are written in the vision of Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet, on the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And Hezekiah lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the uppermost of the graves of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have done honour to him at his death, and reign doth Manasseh his son in his stead.

and I add not to turn aside the foot of Israel from off the ground that I appointed to your fathers, only, if they watch to do all that I have commanded them -- to all the law, and the statutes, and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.'

And Jehovah speaketh unto Manasseh and unto his people, and they have not attended,

and Jehovah bringeth in against them the heads of the host that the king of Asshur hath, and they capture Manasseh among the thickets, and bind him with brazen fetters, and cause him to go to Babylon.

And the rest of the matters of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the matters of the seers, those speaking unto him in the name of Jehovah, God of Israel, lo, they are on the book of the matters of the kings of Israel;

and his prayer, and his entreaty, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places in which he had built high places, and established the shrines and the graven images before his being humbled, lo, they are written beside the matters of Hozai.

And Manasseh lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in his own house, and reign doth Amon his son in his stead.

And they break down before him the altars of the Baalim, and the images that are on high above them he hath cut down, and the shrines, and the graven images, and the molten images, he hath broken and beaten small, and streweth on the surface of the graves of those sacrificing to them,

And they come in unto Hilkiah the high priest, and they give the money that is brought in to the house of God, that the Levites, keeping the threshold, have gathered from the hand of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

and they give it into the hand of the workmen, those appointed over the house of Jehovah, and they give it to the workmen who are working in the house of Jehovah, to repair and to strengthen the house;

and they give it to artificers, and to builders, to buy hewn stones, and wood for couplings and for beams to the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed.

and Shaphan bringeth in the book unto the king, and bringeth the king back word again, saying, 'All that hath been given into the hand of thy servants they are doing,

and they pour out the money that is found in the house of Jehovah, and give it into the hand of those appointed, and into the hands of those doing the work.'

And Hilkiah goeth, and they of the king, unto Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments, and she is dwelling in Jerusalem in the Second, and they speak unto her thus.

Thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am bringing in evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, all the execrations that are written on the book that they read before the king of Judah;

because that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, so as to provoke Me with all the works of their hands, and poured out is My fury upon this place, and it is not quenched.

Lo, I am gathering thee unto thy fathers, and thou hast been gathered unto thy graves in peace, and thine eyes do not look on all the evil that I am bringing upon this place, and upon its inhabitants;' and they bring the king back word.

And Josiah turneth aside all the abominations out of all the lands that the sons of Israel have, and causeth every one who is found in Israel to serve, to serve Jehovah their God; all his days they turned not aside from after Jehovah, God of their fathers.

And Josiah maketh in Jerusalem a passover to Jehovah, and they slaughter the passover-offering on the fourteenth of the first month,

and they slaughter the passover-offering, and the priests sprinkle out of their hand, and the Levites are striping;

and they turn aside the burnt-offering, to put them by the divisions of the house of the fathers of the sons of the people, to bring near to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses -- and so to the oxen.

And they cook the passover with fire, according to the ordinance, and the sanctified things they have cooked in pots, and in kettles, and in pans -- for all the sons of the people.

And afterward they have prepared for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests, sons of Aaron, are in the offering up of the burnt-offering and of the fat till night; and the Levites have prepared for themselves, and for the priests, sons of Aaron.

and Jeremiah lamenteth for Josiah, and all the singers and the songstresses speak in their lamentations of Josiah unto this day, and set them for a statute on Israel, and lo, they are written beside the lamentations.

even his matters, the first and the last, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

And the rest of the matters of Jehoiakim, and his abominations that he hath done, and that which is found against him, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, and reign doth Jehoiachin his son in his stead.

Also, all the heads of the priests, and the people, having multiplied to commit a trespass according to all the abominations of the nations, and they defile the house of Jehovah that He hath sanctified in Jerusalem.

and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing.

And they burn the house of God, and break down the wall of Jerusalem, and all its palaces they have burnt with fire, and all its desirable vessels -- to destruction.

And he removeth those left of the sword unto Babylon, and they are to him and to his sons for servants, till the reigning of the kingdom of Persia,

And these are sons of the province who are going up -- of the captives of the removal that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed to Babylon, and they turn back to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city --

And these are those going up from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsa, Cherub, Addan, Immer, and they have not been able to declare the house of their fathers, and their seed, whether they are of Israel:

these have sought their register among those reckoning themselves by genealogy, and they have not been found, and they are redeemed from the priesthood,

and the Tirshatha saith to them, that they eat not of the most holy things till the standing up of a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

according to their power they have given to the treasure of the work; of gold, drams six myriads and a thousand, and of silver, pounds five thousand, and of priests' coats, a hundred.

And rise doth Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they build the altar of the God of Israel, to cause to ascend upon it burnt-offerings, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

And they establish the altar on its bases, because of the fear upon them of the peoples of the lands, and he causeth burnt-offerings to ascend upon it to Jehovah, burnt-offerings for the morning and for the evening.

And they make the feast of the booths as it is written, and the burnt-offering of the day daily in number according to the ordinance, the matter of a day in its day;

From the first day of the seventh month they have begun to cause burnt-offerings to ascend to Jehovah, and the temple of Jehovah hath not been founded,

and they give money to hewers and to artificers, and food, and drink, and oil to Zidonians and to Tyrians, to bring in cedar-trees from Lebanon unto the sea of Joppa, according to the permission of Cyrus king of Persia concerning them.

And in the second year of their coming in unto the house of God, to Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those coming from the captivity to Jerusalem, and they appoint the Levites from a son of twenty years and upward, to overlook the work of the house of Jehovah.

And those building have founded the temple of Jehovah, and they appoint the priests, clothed, with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Jehovah, by means of the instruments of David king of Israel.

And they respond in praising and in giving thanks to Jehovah, for good, for to the age His kindness is over Israel, and all the people have shouted -- a great shout -- in giving praise to Jehovah, because the house of Jehovah hath been founded.

and they draw nigh unto Zerubbabel, and unto heads of the fathers, and say to them, 'Let us build with you; for, like you, we seek to your God, and we are not sacrificing since the days of Esar-Haddon king of Asshur, who brought us up hither.'

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the commencement of his reign, they have written an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem;

This is a copy of a letter that they have sent unto him, unto Artaxerxes the king: 'Thy servants, men beyond the river, and at such a time;

Be it known to the king, that the Jews who have come up from thee unto us, have come in to Jerusalem, the rebellious and base city they are building, and the walls they have finished, and the foundations they join.

Now, be it known to the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls finished, toll, tribute, and custom they do not give; and at length to the kings it doth cause loss.

and by me a decree hath been made, and they sought, and have found that this city from the days of old against kings is lifting up itself, and rebellion and sedition is made in it,

Then from the time that a copy of the letter of king Artaxerxes is read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they have gone in haste to Jerusalem, unto the Jews, and caused them to cease by force and strength;

At that time come to them hath Tatnai, governor beyond the river, and Shethar-Boznai, and their companions, and thus they are saying to them, 'Who hath made for you a decree this house to build, and this wall to finish?'

And the eye of their God hath been upon the elders of the Jews, and they have not caused them to cease till the matter goeth to Darius, and then they send back a letter concerning this thing.

A letter they have sent unto him, and thus is it written in it:

And thus they have returned us word, saying, We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built many years before this, that a great king of Israel built and finished:

and also, the vessels of the house of God, of gold and silver, that Nebuchadnezzar had taken forth out of the temple that is in Jerusalem, and brought them to the temple of Babylon, them hath Cyrus the king brought forth out of the temple of Babylon, and they have been given to one, Sheshbazzar is his name, whom he made governor,

Then Darius the king made a decree, and they sought in the house of the books of the treasuries placed there in Babylon,

'In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king hath made a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: the house let be builded in the place where they are sacrificing sacrifices, and its foundations strongly laid; its height sixty cubits, its breadth sixty cubits;

And by me is made a decree concerning that which ye do with the elders of these Jews to build this house of God, that of the riches of the king, that are of the tribute beyond the river, speedily let the outlay be given to these men, that they cease not;

and what they are needing -- both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil according to the saying of the priests who are in Jerusalem -- let be given to them day by day without fail,

that they be bringing near sweet savours to the God of heaven, and praying for the life of the king, and of his sons.

Then Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-Boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king hath sent, so they have done speedily;

and the elders of the Jews are building and prospering through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah son of Iddo, and they have built and finished by the decree of the God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

and they have established the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, over the service of God that is in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

for the priests and the Levites have been purified together -- all of them are pure -- and they slaughter the passover for all the sons of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

and they make the feast of unleavened things seven days with joy, for Jehovah made them to rejoice, and turned round the heart of the king of Asshur unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

And they bring to us, according to the good hand of our God upon us, a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, and Sherebiah, and his sons, and his brethren, eighteen;

and they give the laws of the king to the lieutenants of the king and the governors beyond the river, and they have lifted up the people and the house of God.

for they have taken of their daughters to them, and to their sons, and the holy seed have mingled themselves among the peoples of the lands, and the hand of the heads and of the seconds have been first in this trespass.'

that Thou hast commanded by the hands of thy servants the prophets, saying, The land into which ye are going to possess it, is a land of impurity, by the impurity of the people of the lands, by their abominations with which they have filled it -- from mouth unto mouth -- by their uncleanness;