Amaziah was twenty-five years old [when] he became king. And he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [was] Jehoaddan from Jerusalem.

And Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah the king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-Shemesh. And they brought him [to] Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

And from the time that Amaziah turned away from Yahweh, they had plotted a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.

Uzziah [was] sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. And the name of his mother [was] Yecoliah of Jerusalem.

And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and he strengthened them.

And he made siege machines in Jerusalem designed [by] skillful men to be [set] upon the towers and upon the corners to shoot arrows and large slingstones. And his fame went out far, for he helped marvelously, for he was strong.

Jotham [was] twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother [was] Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

Ahaz [was] twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh like David his ancestor.

So now, you yourselves plan to subdue people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves and female servants for yourselves. {Is there not also guilt on your part} against Yahweh your God?

Then Ahaz gathered the objects of the house of God, and he cut the objects of the house of God to pieces. And he shut the doors of the house of Yahweh and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

And Ahaz slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the burial site of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Hezekiah became king when he [was] twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother [was] Abijah the daughter of Zechariah.

And the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he made them as an abhorrence, as a desolation and an object of scorn, as you see with your own eyes.

Then Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel.

Now the king and his princes, and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to make the Passover feast in the second month--

but they were not able to make it at that time, for the priests had not consecrated themselves {in sufficient numbers}, and the people had not been assembled in Jerusalem--

Only men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

So many people gathered in Jerusalem to hold the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month; [it was] a very great assembly.

And they rose up and removed the altars that [were] in Jerusalem. And they removed all the incense altars and threw [them] away in the Wadi Kidron.

And the {Israelites} who were found in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy. And the Levites and the priests were offering praise to Yahweh day by day, with powerful instruments to Yahweh.

And there was great joy in Jerusalem, for from the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was nothing such as this in Jerusalem.

Then he said to the people, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give a gift for the priests and the Levites, so that they might be strong in the law of Yahweh.

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and [that] his face [was set] for battle against Jerusalem,

After this Sennacherib the king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (now he and all his armies with him [were] against Lachish) to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all of Judah that [was] in Jerusalem, saying,

"Thus says Sennacherib the king of Assyria: 'On what [are] you relying that [you are] dwelling in siege works in Jerusalem?

Has not Hezekiah himself removed his high places and his altars and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, "You must bow down before one altar and upon it you must make offerings"?

Then they called with a great voice in Judean to the people of Jerusalem who [were] upon the wall to frighten them and terrify them, so that they could take the city captive.

And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of the hands of humankind.

So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the all [their enemies], and gave them rest all around.

And many brought tribute to Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations thereafter.

But Hezekiah did not reciprocate according to the benefit [placed] upon him, because his heart became proud. So wrath was upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

But Hezekiah humbled himself with respect to the arrogance of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

And Hezekiah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the upper [part] of the burial sites of the descendants of David. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, [of] which Yahweh had said, "In Jerusalem my name shall be forever."

And he placed the carved image of the idol that he had made in the house of God, [of] which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the {Israelites}.

and prayed to him. And God responded to him and heard his plea and let him return to Jerusalem to his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.

And he removed the foreign gods and the carved image from the house of Yahweh and all the altars which he built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

Amon [was] twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

Josiah [was] eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he [was] still a boy, he began to seek the God of David his ancestor. And in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherahs, the idols, and the images.

And he burned the bones of the priests on the altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

he broke down the altars and the Asherahs and crushed the idols, grinding [them] to dust, and he cut down all the incense stands in all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then Hilkiah and those whom the king [had sent] went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this.

Then they sent [word] to the king, and he gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

And the king went up to the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites--all the people from great to small--and they read in their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh.

Then he obligated all who were found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would do according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah kept the Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover [sacrifice] on the fourteenth day of the first month.

And there was no Passover like it kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. And none of the kings of Israel kept a Passover like that which Josiah and the priests and the Levites, and all of Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, kept.

So his servants took him out of the chariot and transported him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the burial sites of his ancestors. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned over Josiah.

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.

Jehoahaz [was] twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid a tribute upon the land [of] one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.

Jehoiakim [was] twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God.

Jehoiachin [was] eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with objects of the treasure of the house of Yahweh. And he made Zedekiah his brother king in Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah [was] twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

All the leaders of the priests and the people likewise increased in unfaithfulness according to all the detestable things of the nations. And they polluted the house of Yahweh that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

And they burned the house of God. And they shattered the walls of Jerusalem and burned its citadels with fire and destroyed all the vessels of its treasuries.

"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 'Yahweh the God of heaven has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a house for him at Jerusalem, which [is] in Judah. Whoever [is] among you from all his people, may Yahweh his God go up with him.'"

"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he himself has appointed me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever among you [who is] from all of his people, may his God be with him and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may he build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who [is] in Jerusalem.

And let every survivor, from wherever he {resides} be assisted by the men of that place with silver and gold, with possessions and domestic animals, and with the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem."

So the heads of the {families} for Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites--to all whose spirit God had stirred--[prepared] to go up and build the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem.

And Cyrus the king brought out the objects of the house of Yahweh that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.

All of the objects of gold and silver metal [were] five thousand four hundred. All this Sheshbazzar brought up along with the exiles from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Now these were the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exile whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his [own] city.

When [some] of the heads of {families} came to the house of Yahweh that [is] in Jerusalem, they gave freewill offerings for the house of God to erect it on its place.

The priests, the Levites, and some of the people lived [in Jerusalem], and the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants [lived] in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Now the seventh month drew near and the {Israelites} [were] in the cities, [so] the people gathered as {one} in Jerusalem.

In the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jehozadak began [their work], and the remainder of their brothers the priests and the Levites and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem. They appointed the Levites {from twenty years and older} to direct the work of the house of Yahweh.

In the reign of Ahasuerus, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Rehum the royal officer and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows

be it known to the king that the Jews who have come up from near you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the wall and repairing the foundation.

Mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem, [governing] all [the province] Beyond the River, to whom tribute, duty, and tax has been given.

Then when a copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates they returned in a hurry to Jerusalem against the Jews and they stopped them by force and power.

Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in {Judah} and in Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak set out and began to build the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And with them the prophets of God [were] helping them.

Also, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took away from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylonia, King Cyrus removed them from the temple in Babylonia and they were given to Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor.

He said to him, 'Take these vessels. Go put them in the temple in Jerusalem and let the house of God be built on its site.'

Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem. And from that [time] until now it is being built, but not yet finished.'

And now, if it seems good for the king, let it be investigated in the house of the treasury of the king in Babylonia [to see] if a decree was issued forth from King Cyrus to build this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send to us his desire on this matter."

In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued forth a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem. Let the house be built, the place where sacrifices are offered and let its foundations be raised. Its height [shall be] sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits,

Also, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylonia, be returned and brought to the temple in Jerusalem to its place. Put them in the house of God."

Whatever may be needed--{young bulls}, young rams, sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil for the priests in Jerusalem--let it be given to them day by day with no negligence,

May the God who has set his name there overthrow any king or people who sets his hand to alter [or] to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, issue forth a decree. Let it be done with diligence."

Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the work of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

Some of the {Israelites}, some priests and Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

For on the first day of the first month he began the journey from Babylonia; and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God [was] on him.

I issue forth a decree that any of the people of Israel, their priests, or their Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem may go with you.

For you are sent from the king and his seven counselors to enquire about Judah and Jerusalem concerning the law of your God, which is in your hand.

Also, bring the silver and gold that the king and his advisors have freely offered to the God of Israel whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

and all of the silver and gold that you will find in the whole province of Babylonia, with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests giving willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.

With this money, then, with diligence you must buy young bulls, young rams, lambs, and their offerings and libations. You must offer them on the altar that is in the house of your God in Jerusalem.