and she said to them: "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'Say this to the man who sent you to me:

"Thus says Yahweh, 'Look I am bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, [according to] all of the words of that scroll that the king of Judah has read

because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.'"

Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: "This is what the Lord God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard:

because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh.

Therefore look, I am gathering you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes will not see all of the disaster that I am bringing onto this place.'" '" Then they {reported the word} to the king.

At this, the king sent for and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

Then the king stood by the pillar, and he {made} a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of [his] heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people {joined} in the covenant.

When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought; he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the Lord's announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this.

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.

For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel {or} [during] the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept for Yahweh in Jerusalem.

Josiah also got rid of the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord's temple.

Yahweh had said, "Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I have removed Israel; I will reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem and the house [of] which I said, 'My name shall be there'!"

Surely at the commandment of Yahweh came this on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land.

The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors.

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 in the fifth month, in the seventh to the month. (this year the nineteenth year to king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel,) came Nebuzaradan, chief of the cooks, servant of the king of Babel, to Jerusalem.

Gedaliah made this promise to them and to their men: "Don't be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and things will go well with you."

After this, Hezron slept with the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead. Hezron had married her when he was 60 years old, and she bore Segub to him.

Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, both of whom ruled in Moab and Jashubi Lehem. (This information is from ancient records.)

along with all their settlements that surrounded these cities as far as Baal this is their settlement history.

They kept this genealogical record for themselves: Meshobab, Jamlech, Amaziah's son Joshah,

And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their stead; for there was pasture there for their flocks.

and they smote the rest of the Amalekites that had escaped; and they dwelt there unto this day.

He also lived to the east up to the entrance of the desert {this side of} the River Euphrates, for their livestock had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.

And these are those who did this work, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman, who made melody, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,

he serves to this day at the King's Gate on the east. These were the gatekeepers from the camp of the descendants of Levi.

And not to the Lord: for this reason, he put him to death and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

And David will go, and all Israel to Jerusalem; this is Jebus; and there the Jebusites dwelling in the land.

The residents of Jebus said to David, "You cannot invade this place!" But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).

David lived in the fortress; for this reason it is called the City of David.

And this [is] the numbering of the mighty warriors who [were] for David: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni [was] chief of the three. He himself raised his spear against three hundred [whom he] killed on one occasion.

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.

Benaiah did things like this and gained a reputation comparable to the Three Warriors.

And this is the number of the men equipped for military service, who came to David to Hebron, to transfer the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of Jehovah.

Then he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is from the Lord our God, let us spread out and send the message to the rest of our relatives in all the districts of Israel, including the priests and Levites in their cities with pasturelands, that they should gather together with us.

The whole assembly agreed to do this, for the proposal seemed right to all the people.

And David {was angry} because Yahweh had broken out in wrath against Uzza. And that place is called Perez Uzza unto this day.

After this, King Hiram of Tyre sent a delegation to David, accompanied by cedar logs, stone masons, and wood workers, to construct a palace for him.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they all went in search of David; when David heard of this, he went out to face them.

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.

So David again asked God what he should do. This time God told him, "Don't march up after them; circle around them and come against them in front of the trees.

Kenaniah, the leader of the Levites, was in charge of transport, for he was well-informed on this matter;

Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to give thanks to Jehovah through Asaph and his brethren.

Say this prayer: "Deliver us, O God who delivers us! Gather us! Rescue us from the nations! Then we will give thanks to your holy name, and boast about your praiseworthy deeds."

After this, everyone left for their own homes and David went home to bless his own household.

After David had settled down to live in his palace, he spoke with the prophet Nathan. "Look, here I am living in this cedar palace, but the ark of the LORD's covenant remains surrounded by curtains!"

But later that same night, this message came to Nathan from God:

“Go to David My servant and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build Me a house to dwell in.

for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day; but I have been from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

“Now this is what you will say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel.

Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

Then King David went in, sat in the Lord’s presence, and said,

Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?

This was a little thing to You, God, for You have spoken about Your servant’s house in the distant future. You regard me as a man of distinction, Lord God.

Lord, You have done all this greatness, making known all these great promises because of Your servant and according to Your will.

For, thou, O my God, hast unveiled the ear of thy servant, that thou wilt build for him a house, - for this cause, hath thy servant found it in his heart to pray before thee.

Yahweh, You indeed are God, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.

After this, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its villages from Philistine control.

And it happened [that] after this Nahash the king of the {Ammonites} died, and his son reigned in his place.

So with this money they got thirty-two thousand war-carriages, and the help of the king of Maacah and his people, who came and took up their position in front of Medeba. And the children of Ammon came together from their towns for the fight.

David heard about this and sent Joab and the entire army of warriors.

When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan. He came up to the Arameans and lined up in battle formation against them. When David lined up to engage them in battle, they fought against him.

When Hadadezer’s subjects saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. After this, the Arameans were never willing to help the Ammonites again.

He removed the city's residents and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. This was his policy with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

After this, a war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, a descendant of the giants, and the Philistines were subdued.

David said, "This is where the LORD God's Temple will be, along with the altar of burnt offerings for Israel."

Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply the number of His people a hundred times over! My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

This command was also evil in God’s sight, so He afflicted Israel.

David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now, please take away Your servant’s guilt, for I’ve been very foolish.”

“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.’”

So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice:

So David replied to Gad, "This is a very bad choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the LORD, because his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!"

David said to God, "Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed! As for these sheep -- what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family, but remove the plague from your people!"

Then David said to Ornan, “Give me this threshing-floor plot so that I may build an altar to the Lord on it. Give it to me for the full price, so the plague on the people may be stopped.”

After this, the LORD spoke to the angel, who then sheathed his sword.

Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

But this message from the LORD came to me, telling me

For by the last words of David was this done, the numbering of the sons of Levi from twenty years old and upward.

They also stood in a designated place every morning and offered thanks and praise to the Lord. They also did this in the evening

By doing this, they will fulfill their obligation as trustees over the Tent of Assembly and the Sanctuary, attending to the needs of their relatives, who are descendants of Aaron, in keeping with their service on behalf of the Temple of the LORD."

And David ordered them on this manner: Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar to be in office by course.

There were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and they were divided like this: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, heads of ancestral houses; and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers' houses, eight.

This is their ordering in their service to come into the house of Jehovah, according to their ordinance, through Aaron their father, as Jehovah the God of Israel had commanded him.

David and the officers of the army also set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, who were to prophesy accompanied by lyres, harps, and cymbals. This is the list of the men who performed their service:

The list of those who participated in this service included: from the descendants of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah, sons of Asaph mentored by Asaph himself, who prophesied under the supervision of the king;

This Shelomith and his brothers were in charge of all the treasuries of what had been dedicated by King David, by the heads of families who were the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and by the army commanders.

And all that Samuel the seer had dedicated and Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner and Joab the son of Zeruiah, everyone who had dedicated anything, all of this was in the care of Shelomoth and his relatives.

Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brethren, men of valour, a thousand and seven hundred, for the administration of Israel on this side Jordan westward, for all the business of Jehovah, and for the service of the king.

This is the list of the Israelites, the heads of families, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, and their officers who served the king in every matter to do with the divisions that were on rotated military duty each month throughout the year. There were 24,000 in each division:

This Benaiah was a mighty man among the Thirty and over the Thirty, and his son Ammizabad was in charge of his division.

The fifth captain for this fifth month was Shamhuth the Izrahite: and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

Joab son of Zeruiah began to count them, but he didn’t complete it. There was wrath against Israel because of this census, and the number was not entered in the Historical Record of King David.

and I will establish his kingdom forever if {he firmly performs} my commandments and my judgments as [he has to] this day.'

“So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and follow all the commands of the Lord your God so that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

At this point in his address, David transferred to his son Solomon the construction plans for the Hall of Justice, its buildings, its treasure vaults, its upper rooms, its inner chambers, the housing for the Mercy Seat,

"All this [I give you] in writing; from the hand of Yahweh he instructed me [about] all the workings of this plan."