And the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt 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 the LORD their God, and laid them by heaps.

In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them 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 the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great abundance.

Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them,

And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter towards the east, was over the free-will-offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the most holy things.

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

Besides their genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even to every one that entereth into the house of the LORD, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses;

Both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges, by their courses;

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 sanctified themselves in holiness:

Also of the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every several city, the men that were expressed by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all that were reckoned 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, and their establishment, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself.

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he purposed to fight against Jerusalem,

He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they helped him.

Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

And he set captains of war over the people, and assembled them to him in the street of the gate of the city, and encouraged them, saying,

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

After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,

Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, On what do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?

Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Know ye not what I and my fathers have done to all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of my hand?

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

Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom hath been 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 wrote also letters to rail at the LORD 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.

Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to fill them with consternation; that they might take the city.

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

And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he had come into the house of his god, they that came forth from his own bowels slew him there with the sword.

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

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near to death, and he prayed to the LORD: and he spoke to him, and he gave him a sign.

But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done to him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

But, in the business of the embassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

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

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

And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, 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, will I put my name for ever:

Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers; provided 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.

So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

And prayed to him: and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he is God.

Now after this, he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish-gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great highth, and put captains of war in all the fortified cities of Judah.

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

Nevertheless, the people sacrificed still in the high places, yet to the LORD their God only.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.

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

But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;

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

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet 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 groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks around.

And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

Now 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 the LORD his God.

And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had collected 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 hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and mend the house:

Even to the artificers and builders they gave it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to superintend it; and others of the Levites, all that had skill in instruments of music.

And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. 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 committed to thy servants, they perform.

And they have collected the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel, and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.

And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spoke to her to that effect.

And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man that 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 works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.

And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;

Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thy eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

And the king stood in his place, 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 with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin, to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel, to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Moreover, Josiah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

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

And said to the Levites that taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,

And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers after your courses, 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 brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.

So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover-offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.

And his princes gave willingly 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 and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.

Conaniah also, and Shemaiah, and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jehiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave to the Levites for passover-offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.

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

And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings they boiled in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.

And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

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

But he sent embassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he may not destroy thee.

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him, and hearkened not 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, Have me away; for I am severely wounded.

His servants therefore 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 one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

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

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

Jehoahaz was twenty and 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.

Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

And when the year had expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.