For this cause I will let you go to your fathers and be put in your last resting-place in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will send on this place. So they took this news back to the king.

Then the king gave orders to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and to the priests of the second order, and to the keepers of the door, to take out of the house of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the stars of heaven; and he had them burned outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and took the dust of them to Beth-el

And he had the houses pulled down of those who were used for sex purposes in the house of the Lord, where women were making robes for the Asherah.

And Topheth, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, he made unclean, so that no man might make his son or his daughter go through the fire to Molech.

And he took away the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the way into the house of the Lord, by the room of Nathan-melech, the unsexed servant, which was in the outer part of the building, and the carriages of the sun he put on fire.

And the high places before Jerusalem, on the south side of the mountain of destruction, which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for Ashtoreth, the disgusting god of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and for Milcom, the disgusting god of the children of Ammon, the king made unclean.

In his days, Pharaoh-necoh, king of Egypt, sent his armies against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went out against him; and he put him to death at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, ruling in Jerusalem for three months; his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

And Pharaoh-necoh put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he might not be king in Jerusalem; and took from the land a tax of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Then Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in place of Josiah his father, changing his name to Jehoiakim; but Jehoahaz he took away to Egypt, where he was till his death.

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.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother's name was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah

In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and Jehoiakim was his servant for three years; then he took up arms against him.

And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldaeans and of the Edomites and of the Moabites and of the children of Ammon; sending them against Judah for its destruction, as he had said by his servants the prophets.

And because of the death of those who had done no wrong, for he made Jerusalem full of the blood of the upright; and the Lord had no forgiveness for it.

And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all his country, from the stream of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, he was ruling in Jerusalem for three months, and his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

Now on the ninth day of the fourth month, the store of food in the town was almost gone, so that there was no food for the people of the land.

And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire;

And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away.

And the fire-trays and the basins; the gold of the gold vessels and the silver of the silver vessels, were all taken away by the captain of the armed men.

The two pillars, the great water-vessel and the wheeled bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

And from the town he took the unsexed servant who was over the men of war, and five of the king's near friends who were in the town, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who was responsible for getting the people of the land together in military order, and sixty men of the people of the land who were in the town.

As for the people who were still living in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take away, he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler over them.

Then Gedaliah gave his oath to them and their men, saying, Have no fear because of the servants of the Chaldaeans; go on living in the land under the rule of the king of Babylon, and all will be well.

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 his prison clothing was changed, and he was a guest at the king's table every day for the rest of his life.

And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day for the rest of his life.

He had six sons in Hebron; he was ruling there for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem for thirty-three years.

And in Jerusalem he had four sons, Shimea and Shobab and Nathan and Solomon, by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel;

And the sons of Ezrah: Jether and Mered and Epher and Jalon; and these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, the wife of Mered. And she became the mother of Miriam and Shammai and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.

And all the small places round these towns, as far as Baalath-beer, the high place of the South. These were their living-places, and they have lists of their generations.

And they went to the opening into Gedor, as far as the east side of the valley, in search of grass-land for their flocks.

And they came to some good fertile grass-land, in a wide quiet country of peace-loving people; for the people who were living there before were of the offspring of Ham.

And these whose names are given came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and made an attack on the Meunim who were living there, and put an end to them to this day, and took their place, because there was grass there for their flocks.

And the sons of Reuben, the oldest son of Israel, (for he was the oldest son, but, because he made his father's bride-bed unclean, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel; but he is not to be given the place of the oldest.

And Bela, the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who was living in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon;

And to the east his limits went as far as the starting point of the waste land, ending at the river Euphrates, because their cattle were increased in number in the land of Gilead.

And the sons of Gad were living opposite to them, in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:

And they were living in Gilead in Bashan, in its small towns and in all the grass-land of Sirion as far as its limits.

There were forty-four thousand, seven hundred and sixty of the sons of Reuben and of the Gadites and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, all strong men, expert in the use of the body-cover, the sword, and the bow, and in the art of war, all able to take up arms.

And they were helped against them, so that the Hagarites, and those with them, were given into their power. For they sent up prayers to God in the fight, and he gave ear to them, because they put their faith in him.

And these are those whom David made responsible for the music in the house of the Lord, after the ark had rest.

They gave worship with songs before the House of the Tent of meeting, till Solomon put up the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and they took their places for their work in their regular order.

And their brothers the Levites were responsible for all the work of the Tent of the house of God.

But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burned offering, and on the altar of perfume, for all the work of the most holy place, and to take away the sin of Israel, doing everything ordered by Moses, the servant of God.

And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its outskirts, and Bileam with its outskirts, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath.

And of the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah, Jashub and Shimron, four.

And with them, recorded in generations by their families, were bands of fighting-men, thirty-six thousand of them, for they had a great number of wives and sons.

And the sons of Bela: Ezbon and Uzzi and Uzziel and Jerimoth and Iri, five; heads of their families, great men of war; there were twenty-two thousand and thirty-four of them recorded by their families.

All these were the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their families, seventeen thousand, two hundred men of war, able to go out with the army for war.

And for a long time Ephraim their father went on weeping for them, and his brothers came to give him comfort.

Their heritage and their living-places were Beth-el and its daughter-towns, and Naaran to the east, and Gezer to the west, with its daughter-towns, as well as Shechem and its daughter-towns as far as Azzah and its daughter-towns;

All these were the children of Asher, heads of their families, specially strong men of war, chiefs of the rulers. They were recorded in the army for war, twenty-six thousand men in number.

Up till then they had been at the king's door to the east. They were door-keepers for the tents of the sons of Levi.

And Shallum, the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his family, the Korahites, were responsible for everything which had to be done in connection with the order of worship, keepers of the doors of the Tent; their fathers had had the care of the tents of the Lord, being keepers of the doorway.

There were keepers of the doors on the four sides, to the east, west, north, and south.

For the four chief door-keepers, who were Levites, had a special position, looking after the rooms and the store-houses of the house of God.

Their sleeping-rooms were round the house of God, for they had the care of it, and were responsible for opening it morning by morning.

And some of them were responsible for the holy things and for the vessels of the holy place, and the meal and the wine and the oil and the perfume and the spices.

And some of the sons of the priests were responsible for crushing the spices.

And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was responsible for cooking the flat cakes.

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.

And these were those who had the ordering of the music and songs, heads of families of the Levites, who were living in the rooms, and were free from other work, for their work went on day and night.

Then Saul said to the servant who had the care of his arms, Take your sword and put it through me, before these men without circumcision come and make sport of me. But his servant, full of fear, would not do so. Then Saul took out his sword, falling on it himself.

And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the men of Israel had gone in flight and that Saul and his sons were dead, they went in flight away from their towns; and the Philistines came and took them for themselves.

All the fighting-men came up and took away Saul's body and the bodies of his sons, and took them to Jabesh, and put their bones to rest under the oak-tree in Jabesh, and took no food for seven days.

So death came to Saul because of the sin which he did against the Lord, that is, because of the word of the Lord which he kept not; and because he went for directions to one who had an evil spirit,

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 took the strong tower for his living-place, so it was named the town of David.

He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines had come together for the fight, near a bit of land full of barley; and the people went in flight before the Philistines.

Saying, By my God, far be it from me to do this! How may I take as drink the life-blood of these men who have put their lives in danger? so he did not take it. These things did the three great men of war.

And Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the thirty, for he put to death three hundred with his spear, but he had not a name among the three.

And some of the Gadites, siding with David, went to his strong place in the waste land, great and strong men, trained for war, expert in the use of arms, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were quick-footed like roes on the mountains;

Then the spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, We are yours, David, we are on your side, O son of Jesse: may peace be with you and peace be with your helpers; for God is your helper. Then David took them into his army and made them captains of the band.

And some of the men of Manasseh came over to David, when he went with the Philistines to the war against Saul, but he gave them no help: for the lords of the Philistines, after discussion, sent him away, saying, He will go back to his master Saul, at the price of our lives.

And they gave David help against the armed bands, for they were all great men of war, and captains in the army.

These are the numbers of the chiefs of the armed men, ready for war, who came to David at Hebron, to give the kingdom of Saul into his hands, as the Lord had said.

There were six thousand, eight hundred spearmen of the children of Judah, armed for war;

Of the children of Levi, four thousand, six hundred.

And of the children of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand; for up to that time the greater part of them had been true to Saul.

And of the children of Issachar, there were two hundred chiefs, men who had expert knowledge of the times and what it was best for Israel to do, and all their brothers were under their orders.

For three days they were there with David, feasting at his table, for their brothers had made ready food for them.

And those who were near, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came with food on asses and camels and mules and oxen, with meal for food and cakes of figs and masses of grapes, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep in great numbers, for there was joy in Israel.

And let us get back for ourselves the ark of our God: for in the days of Saul we did not go to it for directions.

And all the people said they would do so, for it seemed right to them.

So David sent for all Israel to come together, from Shihor, the river of Egypt, as far as the way into Hamath, to get the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

And when they came to the grain-floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to keep the ark in its place, for the oxen were slipping.

And so great was David's fear of God that day, that he said, How may I let the ark of God come to me?

And the ark of God was in the house of Obed-edom for three months; and the Lord sent a blessing on the house of Obed-edom and on all he had.

And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David with cedar-trees, and stoneworkers and woodworkers for the building of his house.

And David, desiring directions from God, said, Am I to go up against the Philistines? and will you give them into my hands? And the Lord said, Go up; for I will give them into your hands.

And the Philistines did not take their images with them in their flight; and at David's orders they were burned with fire.

And David went for directions to God; and God said to him, You are not to go up after them; but, turning away from them, come face to face with them opposite the spice-trees.

And at the sound of footsteps in the tops of the trees, go out to the fight, for God has gone out before you to overcome the army of the Philistines.

And David did as the Lord had said; and they overcame the army of the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

And David's name was honoured in all lands; and the Lord put the fear of him on all nations.

And David made houses for himself in the town of David; and he got ready a place for the ark of God, and put up a tent for it.

Then David said, The ark of God may not be moved by any but the Levites, for they have been marked out by God to take the ark of God, and to do his work for ever.