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.'"

I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

Then Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. So they took it and put it on his wound, and he got better.

and Hezekiah hearkeneth unto them, and sheweth them all the house of his treasury, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the good ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and all that hath been found in his treasuries; there hath not been a thing that Hezekiah hath not shewed them, in his house, and in all his dominion.

Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?

And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord.

Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.

And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.

Go up to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and let him give out the money which is taken into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have got together from the people;

And let it be given to the overseers of the work of the Lord's house, to give to the workmen who are making good what was damaged in the house of the Lord;

to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.

They did not have to give any account of the money which was handed to them, for they made use of it with good faith.

Go and get directions from the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah, about the words of this book which has come to light; for great is the wrath of the Lord which is burning against us, because our fathers have not given ear to the words of this book, to do all the things which are recorded in it.

And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,

But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;

Then the king sent and got together all the responsible men of Judah and of Jerusalem.

And the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD that they should walk after the LORD, and keep his commandments and his witnesses and his ordinances with all their hearts and all their souls, and make good the words of the said covenant that were written in the foresaid book. And all the people consented to the covenant.

And the king will command Hilkiah the great priest and the priests of the second rank, and the watchers of the threshold to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels being made for Baal and for the image, and for all the army of the heavens: and they will burn them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and he lifted up their dust to the house of God.

He eliminated the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

He removed from the entrance to the Lord's temple the statues of horses that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god.

The king desecrated the high places which were opposite [east of] Jerusalem, which were on the right (south) of the mount of corruption which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the repulsiveness of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the repulsiveness of Moab, and for Milcom the repulsiveness of the sons (descendants) of Ammon.

And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

And also the altar which was in the house of God, the height which Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin, made, also that altar and height he broke down and he will burn the height, and he beat small to dust, and he burnt the image.

And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.

And also all the houses of the heights which were in the cities of Shomeron which the kings of Israel made to irritate, Josiah turned away, and he will do to them according to all the doings which he did in the house of God.

And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.

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 Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, taxing the land by his orders to get the money; the people of the land had to give silver and gold, everyone as he was taxed, to make the payment to Pharaoh-necoh.

And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

For it was through the anger of Jehovah that Zedekiah happened to rebel against the king of Babylon in Jerusalem and in Judah, until God had put them out of His presence.

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.

and Gedaliah sweareth to them, and to their men, and saith to them, 'Be not afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans, dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it is good for you.'

Then all the people, small and great, and the captains of the forces, got up and went away to Egypt, for fear of the Chaldaeans.

and speaketh with him good things and putteth his throne above the throne of the kings who are with him in Babylon,

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

The son of Carmi: Achan, who brought the disaster on Israel when he stole what was devoted to God.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

And they found fat pasture and good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable; for they of Ham had dwelt there of old.

And they put to death the rest of the Amalekites who had got away safely, and made it their living-place to this day.

And the children of Gad dwelt over against them, in the land of Bashan unto Salchah:

The sons of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 warriors who could serve in the army—men who carried shield and sword, drew the bow, and were trained for war.

And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him.

For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.

And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.

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

Their brethren also the Levites were appointed unto all manner of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

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

Unto the sons of Merari were given by lot, throughout their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

And out of the tribe of Gad; Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, and Mahanaim with her suburbs,

And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead; and the men of Gad killed them being born in the land, for they came down to take their cattle.

And their possessions and their dwellings, the house of God and its daughters, and to the sunrising Naaran, and to the west, Gezer and her daughters, and Shechem and her daughters, and even to Gaza and her daughters:

And upon the hands of the sons of Manasseh, the house of quiet and her daughters, and Taanach and her daughters, and Megiddo and her daughters, Dor and her daughters. In these dwelt the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.

So all Israel was enrolled by genealogies; and they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was carried away into exile to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness [to God].

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

And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand and seven hundred and threescore; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

The gate-keepers, Shallum and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brethren: Shallum the head;

Who hitherto waited in the king's gate eastward: they were porters in the companies of the children of Levi.

Zechariah son of Meshelemiah, the gate of the opening to the tent of appointment

For these Levites, the four chief porters, were in their set office, and were over the chambers and treasuries of the house of God.

And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them.

And some of their brothers, sons of the Kohathites, were responsible for the holy bread which was put in order before the Lord, to get it ready every Sabbath.

They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news to their idols and their people.

And they put his armour in the house of their god, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.

every valiant soldier got up, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons, took them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted for seven days.

So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, for his failure to keep the word of the Lord; and also because he consulted a medium [regarding a spirit of the dead], to inquire of her,

And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.

And all the old men of Israel will come to the king to Hebron; and David will cut out to them a covenant in Hebron before Jehovah; and they will anoint David for king over Israel according to the word of Jehovah by the hand of Samuel.

The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will never get in here.” Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!

And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD,

And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

Benaiah son of Jehoida, son of a man of power, great of deeds, from Kabzeel, he struck two lions of god of Moab: and he went down and struck the lion in the midst of the pit in the day of snow.

Mighty and experienced warriors from the descendants of Gad joined David at his wilderness stronghold. They were expert handlers of both shield and spear, with hardened looks and as agile as a gazelle on a mountain slope.

These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host: one of the least was over an hundred, and the greatest over a thousand.

And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.

Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.

And, of the sons of Issachar, such as were of good understanding of the times, to know what Israel, should do, their chiefs, were two hundred, and, all their brethren, were at their bidding.

From the other side [east] of the Jordan River, of [the tribes of] Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 120,000 men, armed with all kinds of weapons of war for the battle.

And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:

And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.

And all the congregation was content so to do, for the thing seemed good in the eyes of all the people.

So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjathjearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it.

And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.

And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.

And there he died before God. And David was displeased, because the LORD had rent a rent in Uzzah, and called the said place Perezuzzah unto this day.

And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?

So David did not move the ark of God home to the city of David; instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.

And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand.

So they came up to Baalperazim; and David smote them there. Then David said, God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters: therefore they called the name of that place Baalperazim.

Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.

David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer.

And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.