"Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: 'Don't let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria.

This is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him: The virgin-daughter of Zion despiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem shaketh her head at thee.

Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out, In ancient times I planned it; and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins.

This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.

And this shall be the sign unto thee: They shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, And in the second year that which springeth of the same; But in the third year sow ye and reap, And plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof.

For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And out of mount Zion they that escape: The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall do this.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor cast a bank against it.

By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, And shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah.

And I will defend this city, to save it, For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, "This is what the Lord says, 'Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.'"

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, this message from the LORD came to him.

"Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: 'This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow you will go up to the Lord's temple.

and I will add to thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

Hezekiah was delighted at this, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah replied to Hezekiah, "Listen to this message from the LORD:

Behold, days come that all that is in thy house, and what thy fathers have laid up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Is it not good, if [at least] there will be peace and security in my lifetime?”

And he set the graven image of the Asherah that he had made, in the house of which Jehovah had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever;

So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, 'I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it.

I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies,

because they have done evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt even to this day.

Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another. This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit. Consequently, they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Eight years old, was Josiah when he began to reign, and, thirty-one years, reigned he in Jerusalem, - and, this mother's name, was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah, of Bozkath.

Go, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book which is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written there for us.

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 saith Jehovah: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read.

Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my fury is kindled against this place, and shall 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 thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and didst rend thy garments and weep before me, I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah.

Therefore, behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

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

And the king stood on the dais, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart, and with all his soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written in this book. And all the people stood to 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.

He asked, "What is this grave marker I see?" The men from the city replied, "It's the grave of the prophet who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel."

And the king commanded all the people saying, Hold the passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.

Surely there had not been held such a passover as this, from the days of the Judges who judged Israel, - nor all the days of the kings of Israel, and the kings of Judah;

but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover holden to Jehovah 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.

And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will reject this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

Surely, it was, because of the anger of Yahweh, that this came upon Judah, to remove them from his presence, - for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done:

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.

To the east Bela settled as far as the entrance into the desert from the river Euphrates, because their cattle 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).

And David dwelt in the citadel, - for this cause, did they call it, The City of David.

And, this, is the number of the heroes who pertained to David, - Jashobeam son of a Hachmonite, chief of the thirty, the same, brandished his spear over three hundred - slain at one time.

and said - Far be it from me, of my God, that I should do this! The blood of these men, shall I drink, with their lives? For, with their lives, have they brought it! So he would not drink it. These things, did the three heroes.

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 it was a sadness unto David, that Yahweh had broken in with a breach against Uzza, - and he called that place Perez-uzza, as it is called 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.

So they came up in Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and David said, God hath broken forth against mine enemies by my hand, like the breaking forth of waters, - For this cause, called they the name of that 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, tell my servant David: 'This is what the Lord says: "You must not build me a house in which to live.

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.

"So now, say this to my servant David: 'This is what the Lord who commands armies says: "I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you a leader of my people Israel.

According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David.

David went in, sat before the Lord, and said: "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you should have brought me to this point?

And this hath been a small thing in thy sight, O God; and thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, Jehovah Elohim.

Jehovah, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

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.

And now, Jehovah, thou art that God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant;

And after this it came to pass that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines.

And it came to pass after this that Nahash king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead.

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.

And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbechai the Hushathite smote Sippai, one of the children of Rapha; and they were subdued.

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

And Joab said, Jehovah add to his people, how many soever they be, a hundredfold: are they not all, my lord O king, my lord's servants? why does my lord require this thing? why should he become a trespass to Israel?

And God was displeased on account of this thing, and he smote Israel.

And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing; and now, I beseech thee, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

"Go, tell David, 'This is what the Lord says: "I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them."'"