So during the twentieth year of the reign of Uzziah's son Jotham, Elah's son Hoshea conspired against Remaliah's son Pekah, attacked him, executed him, and became king in his place.

The rest of Pekah's activities, including everything that he accomplished, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Uzziah's son Jotham became king over Judah during the second year of the reign of Remaliah's son Pekah, king of Israel.

except the high places were not torn down, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. But he rebuilt the upper gate of the LORD's Temple.

The rest of Jotham's activities, including everything that he accomplished, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

During the seventeenth year of the reign of Remaliah's son Pekah, Jotham's son Ahaz became king of Judah.

So Ahaz sent envoys to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, to tell him, "I am your servant and son. Save me from the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me."

King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest.

Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.

and issued these orders to Uriah the priest: "Burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, the whole burnt offering, the grain offering, and the drink offering on behalf of all the people of the land on the large altar. And sprinkle all the blood from the burnt offering and from the sacrifice. But I will use the bronze altar to ask God questions."

So Uriah the priest did precisely what King Ahaz ordered.

Now the rest of Ahaz's activities are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

During the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, Elah's son Hoshea became king over Israel for nine years in Samaria.

After this, the king of Assyria invaded the entire land, approached Samaria, and began a three year siege.

As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods,

and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.

The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities.

where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry,

and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, "You are not to do this."

Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: "Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets."

But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

As a result, they reported to the king of Assyria, "Because the nations whom you exiled to live in the cities of Samaria don't know the law of the god of the land, he has sent lions among them. Look how the lions are killing them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land!"

Nevertheless, each nation continued to craft their own gods and install them in the temples on the high places that the people of Samaria had constructed every nation in their own cities where they continued to live.

To this very day, they still follow the former customs: they don't fear the LORD and they don't live in accordance with the statutes, ordinances, laws, or commandments that the LORD had given to the descendants of Jacob whom he renamed Israel

"You are not to fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them. Instead, it is to be the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, showing great power and public demonstrations of might, whom you are to fear, worship, and to whom you are to offer sacrifice.

Furthermore, you are to be careful to observe forever the statutes, ordinances, law, and the commandment that he wrote for you. And you are not to fear other gods.

You are not to forget the covenant that I've made with you, and you are not to fear other gods.

But you are to fear the LORD, and he will deliver you from the control of all your enemies."

Now it happened that during the third year of the reign of Elah's son Hoshea, king of Israel, that Ahaz' son Hezekiah became king.

He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah,

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah's reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah's son Hoshea's reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it.

Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea's reign as king of Israel.

During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them.

""Why are you so confident? You're saying but they're only empty words "I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!'

""Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? Look, you're trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it's a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him!

""Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"'

At this, Hilkiah's son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don't speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, "Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine along with you?"

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die."

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control?

"This is what Hezekiah says: "Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. Perhaps the LORD your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.'"

In reply, Isaiah responded to them, "Here's how you're to report to your master:

"This is what the LORD says: "Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Look! I'm going to cause an attitude to grow within him so that he'll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I'll make him die by the sword in his own land!"'"

So Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria at war with Libnah, because Rab-shakeh had heard that the king had left Lachish.

The messengers were told, "This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: "Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you "Jerusalem won't be turned over to the control of Assyria's king."

Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, "LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth.

Turn your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God!

throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren't gods but rather were the product of men's handiwork wood and stone. And so they destroyed them.

Now, LORD our God, I'm praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!"

"This is what the LORD has spoken against him: "She despises and mocks you, this virgin daughter of Zion! Behind your back she shakes her head, this daughter of Jerusalem!

Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel!

By your messengers you have insulted the LORD. You have claimed, "With my many chariots I ascended the heights of the mountains, including the remotest regions of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedars and the best of its cypress trees. I entered its most remote lodging place and its most fruitful forest.

while their inhabitants, lacking strength, stand dismayed and confused. They were like vegetation out in the fields, and like green herbs just as grass that grows on a housetop dries out before it can grow.

Because of your rage against me, your complacency has reached my ears. I'll put my hook into your nostrils and my bit into your mouth. Then I'll turn you back on the road by which you came.'

"This will serve as a sign for you: you'll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you'll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoy their fruit.

"Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: "Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won't approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it.

That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead.

As a result, King Sennacherib of Assyria left and returned to Nineveh where he lived.

During this time, Hezekiah became sick with a fatal illness, so Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, approached him and told him, "This is what the LORD says: "Put your household in order, because you are dying. You will not survive.'"

"Remember me, LORD," he said, "how I have walked in your presence with integrity, with an undivided heart, and I have accomplished what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept deeply.

"Return to Hezekiah," he said, "and tell the Commander-in-Chief of my people: "This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: "I've heard your prayer and I've observed your tears. Look! I'm healing you. Three days from now, you'll go visit the LORD's Temple.

Furthermore, I'll add fifteen years to your life. I'll deliver you and this city from domination by the king of Assyria, and I'll defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."'"

So Isaiah replied, "This will be your sign from the LORD that the LORD will do what he has promised. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?"

Hezekiah listened to the entourage and showed them his entire treasury, including the silver, gold, and spices, the precious oil, his armory, and everything that was inventoried in his treasuries. There was nothing in his household or in his holdings that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men have to say, and where did they come from?" Hezekiah replied, "They came from a country far away from Babylon."

He asked, "What did they see in your household?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything. In my household there is nothing in my treasuries that I haven't shown them."

"Watch out! The days are coming when everything that's in your house everything that your ancestors have saved up right to this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,' declares the LORD.

"Some of your descendants your very own seed, whom you will father will be carried away to become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

Now the rest of Hezekiah's actions, as well as his glorious deeds, including how he constructed the pool and the conduit to bring water into the city, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

I will abandon the survivors of my heritage and hand them over to their enemies. They will become war booty and spoil to all of their enemies,

The rest of Manasseh's deeds, including everything that he accomplished and the sin that he practiced, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

Now the rest of Amon's activities that he undertook are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

Josiah was an eight year old child when he began to reign, and he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

Have them deliver it to the workmen who are supervising the LORD's Temple, so that they may pay it over to the workmen who serve in the LORD's Temple to repair its damages,

Shaphan the scribe reported to King Josiah, brought up the matter to him, and told him, "Your servants have distributed the money that was found in the Temple by giving it to the workmen who supervise the LORD's Temple."

"Go ask the LORD for me, for the people, and for all of Judah about what's written in this book that has been discovered, because the LORD's anger is burning against us, since our ancestors have not listened to the words written in this book and have not lived according to everything that is written concerning us."

because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself in the LORD's presence when you heard what I had to say against this place and against its inhabitants that they would become a desolation and a curse and you have torn your clothes and cried out before me, be assured that I have truly heard you,' declares the LORD.

"Therefore, look! I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be placed in your grave in peace. Your eyes will never see all the evil that I will bring on this place.'"'"

The king went up to the LORD's Temple, accompanied by all the men of Judah, everyone who lived in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and everyone including those who were unimportant and those who were important and he read to them everything written in the Book of the Covenant that had been discovered in the LORD's Temple.

He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating in the LORD's Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah.

Then he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He also demolished the high places of the gates that had been erected to the left as one enters the city gate that is, near the entrance operated by Joshua, the governor of the city.

He also defiled Topheth, which is located in the Ben-hinnom Valley, so that no one would force his son or daughter to pass through the fire in dedication to Molech.

He abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the LORD's Temple, near the offices of Nathan-melech, the official, that were in the precincts. He also set fire to the chariots of the sun.

The king demolished the rooftop altars on top of Ahaz's upper chamber that the kings of Judah had erected, as well as the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the LORD's Temple. He pulverized them where they stood and cast their dust into the Kidron Brook.

After this, the king commanded all of the people, "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, just as it's prescribed in this Book of the Covenant."

In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah, this Passover was observed in Jerusalem to honor the LORD.

Now the rest of Josiah's actions, including everything that he did, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

Pharaoh Neco installed Josiah's son Eliakim as king to replace his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He transported Jehoahaz off to Egypt, where he died.

Now the rest of Jehoiakim's actions, and everything that he undertook, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not?

King Jehoiachin of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon (as did his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers) during the eighth year of his reign.

All 7,000 of the most valiant soldiers and 1,000 of the craftsmen and ironworkers all physically fit and trained for battle were brought by the king of Babylon into exile in Babylon.

Zedekiah then rebelled against the king of Babylon, so on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his entire army approached Jerusalem, attacked it, encamped against it, and built a siege wall that surrounded the city.

The city remained under siege until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah.

but the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the Jericho plains, where his entire army was scattered.

The Chaldeans captured the king and brought him to Riblah, where the king of Babylon determined his sentence.

On the seventh day of the fifth month, which was during the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign as king of Babylon, captain of the guard Nebuzaradan, a servant of the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem

They also confiscated the pots, shovels, snuffers, spoons, and the rest of the bronze vessels that were used in ministry.