He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which the LORD 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 forever;

neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."

But they did not listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

"Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols;

I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;

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

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house.

Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

He did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,

"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.

Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,

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

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD." Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD."

Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me." Shaphan read it before the king.

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

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her.

She said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me,

Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.'"

But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus you shall tell him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Concerning the words which you have heard,

'Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the disaster which I will bring on this place.'"'" They brought back this message to the king.

The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

The king went up to the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the LORD's temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.

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 he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.

Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

And as Josiah turned himself, he saw the tombs that were there in the mountain. And he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the feast. And he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God who proclaimed these things.

All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

The king commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant."

but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Like him was there no king before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there.

Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of everyone according to his taxation, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

The LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.

Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

The king of Egypt did not come again out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it;

and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his officers, and his officers. And the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king is his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it.

So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.

Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment on him.

They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem.

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, and carried the brass pieces to Babylon.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with network.

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, "Do not be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you."

All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

Cush became the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

The sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah; which three were born to him by Bath-Shua the Canaanite woman. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and he killed him.

The sons also of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.

Azubah died, and Caleb took to him Ephrath, who bore him Hur.

Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he took as wife when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub.

Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as wife; and she bore him Attai.

Now these were the sons of David, who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second, Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess;

six were born to him in Hebron; and there he reigned seven years and six months. In Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years;

and these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel;

Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it not be to my sorrow. God granted him that which he requested.