For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep. And the rulers gave to the congregation a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And a great number of priests sanctified themselves.

And the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people. And their voice was heard, and their prayer came to His holy dwelling-place, to Heaven.

And when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the Asherahs, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, even to the end. And all the sons of Israel returned, each to his possession, into their own cities.

And Hezekiah set the courses of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of Jehovah.

And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites so that they might be strong in the Law of Jehovah.

And the sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to Jehovah their God, and laid it up by heaps.

In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished in the seventh month.

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of Jehovah, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left. For Jehovah has blessed His people, and this great store is left.

And Hezekiah commanded storehouses to be prepared in the house of Jehovah. And they prepared,

and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the things dedicated to God faithfully. And over them was Cononiah the Levite ruler, and Shimei his brother the next.

And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper toward the east, was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the sacrifices of Jehovah and the most holy things.

And next to him Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set office, to give to their brothers by divisions, to the great as well as to the small,

besides registering the males from three years and upward, to everyone who enters into the house of Jehovah, giving his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their divisions,

both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, and their charges by their divisions,

and to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation. For in their set office they set themselves apart in holiness.

And to the sons of Aaron, the priests, in the fields of the open lands of their cities, in each separate city were the men who were named by name, to give shares to all the males among the priests, and to all who were counted by genealogies among the Levites.

And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

After these things done in faithfulness, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came and entered into Judah, and camped against the fortified cities, and commanded to break them open to himself.

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he had set his face to fight against Jerusalem,

he took counsel with his rulers and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains outside the city. And they helped him.

And he made himself strong and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall outside, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

And he set commanders of war over the people and gathered them to himself in the street of the gate of the city. And he spoke to their heart, saying,

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of the king of Assyria, or for all the multitude with him. For there are more with us than with him.

With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is Jehovah our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem; and he was against Lachish, and all his forces with him against Hezekiah king of Judah, and against all Judah in Jerusalem, saying,

Sennacherib king of Assyria says this, On what do you trust that you sit under siege in Jerusalem?

Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Jehovah our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the people of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hands?

Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers completely destroyed is able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?

And now do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you in this way, nor yet believe him. For no god of any nation was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?

He also wrote letters to revile Jehovah, the God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver His people out of my hand.

And they cried out with a loud voice in Jewish to the people of Jerusalem on the wall, in order to frighten them and to trouble them, so that they might take the city.

And for this reason Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to Heaven.

And Jehovah sent an angel to cut off all the mighty men of power, and the leaders and commanders in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shame of face to his own land. And he came into the house of his god, and those from his own bowels killed him there with the sword.

And many brought gifts to Jehovah to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from that time on.

In those days Hezekiah was sick to death, and prayed to Jehovah. And He spoke to him, and He gave him a sign.

But Hezekiah did not give again according to the good done to him, for his heart was lifted up. And there was wrath on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

And Hezekiah himself stopped the upper water courses of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah was blessed in all his works.

But, in regard to the ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon who sent to him to ask about the wonder that was done in the land, God left him in order to try him, to know all that was in his heart.

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

And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.

And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He also practiced secret arts, and used fortune-telling, and used witchcraft, and dealt with mediums, and with soothsayers. He did much evil in the sight of Jehovah in order to provoke Him to anger.

And he set a carved image, the idol which 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 before all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.

Nor will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have set apart for your fathers; only if they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.

And Manasseh made Judah and the people of Jerusalem to err, to do worse than the nations whom Jehovah had destroyed before the sons of Israel.

And Jehovah spoke to Manasseh and to His people, but they would not listen.

And Jehovah brought on them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon.

And he prayed to Him, and He was entreated of him, and heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that Jehovah is God.

And after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and went around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. And he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

And he repaired the altar of Jehovah and sacrificed on it peace offerings and thank-offerings. And he commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel.

But the people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to Jehovah their God.

And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel;

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

And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, as his father Manasseh did; and to all the graven images that his father Manasseh had made, Amon sacrificed, and served them.

And the people of the land killed all those who conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made his son Josiah to reign in his place.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.

And he did the right in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right nor to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the carved images, and the molten images.

And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence. And he cut down the images which were on high above them, and the Asherahs. And the carved images and the molten images he also broke in pieces and made dust from them, and scattered on the graves of the ones who had sacrificed to them.

And so he did in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their tools round about.

And he broke down the altars and the Asherahs, and had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the idols in all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God.

And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and they delivered the silver that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and they returned to Jerusalem.

And they put it in the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah. And they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of Jehovah, to repair and mend the house.

They gave to the artisans and builders, to buy cut stone and timber for joints, and beams to build up the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

And Shaphan carried the Book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was given into the hands of your servants, they are doing.

And they poured out the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.

Go inquire of Jehovah for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found. For great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the Word of Jehovah to do according to all that is written in this Book.

And Hilkiah, and those of the king, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the robes. (And she lived in Jerusalem in the second part.) And they spoke to her about this.

And she answered them, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me,

because they have forsaken Me, and have burned incense to other gods, so that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. And My wrath shall be poured out on this place and shall not be quenched.

And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, so shall you say to him, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel whose words you have heard,

Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, nor shall your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place and upon its people. And they brought the king word again.

And the king went up into the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people from the great to the small. And he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of Jehovah.

And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah and to keep His commandments and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

And he caused all who were found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin, and the people of Jerusalem, to stand to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the territories that belonged to the sons of Israel. And he made all that were present in Israel to serve, to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they did not depart from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah kept a Passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem. And they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth of the first month.

And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah.

And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall not be a burden on your shoulders. And serve Jehovah your God and His people Israel,

and prepare by the houses of your fathers, according to your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brothers, the sons of the people, and the division of the families of the Levites.

And kill the passover lamb, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brothers so that they may do according to the Word of Jehovah by the hand of Moses.

And Josiah gave to the people from the flock, lambs and kids, all for the Passover offerings, for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand oxen. These were from what the king owned.

And his rulers offered to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand, six hundred sheep, and three hundred oxen.

And Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings five thousand sheep and five hundred oxen.

And the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's command.

And they removed the burnt offerings so that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses; and so they did to the oxen.

And they roasted the passover lamb with fire according to the Law. But the holy offerings they boiled in pots, and in kettles, and in pans, and carried to all the sons of the people.

And the singers, the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's seer. And the gatekeepers were at every gate. It was not for them to depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

And all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of Jehovah, according to the command of King Josiah.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates. And Josiah went out against him.

But he sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I do not come against you today, but against the house with which I have war. For God commanded me to make haste. You must cease from opposing God, who is with me, so that He does not destroy you.

But Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him. And he did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

And the archers shot at King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am grievously wounded.

And his servants took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And Jeremiah mourned for Josiah. And all the singing men and the singing women have spoken of Josiah in their lamentations until this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel. And behold, they are written in the Lamentations.

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

And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.