But Hezekiah humbled himself while he was arrogant in heart, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem joined him in this. As a result, the LORD's wrath did not come upon them during Hezekiah's lifetime.

Hezekiah received immense wealth and honor. He built treasuries for himself to store silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all sorts of valuable items,

along with storage facilities for grain, wine, oil, stalls for all sorts of cattle, and sheepfolds for his flocks.

He also built cities for himself and stored up flocks and herds in abundance, because God had given him great riches.

Hezekiah stopped up the upper outlet of the Gihon springs and diverted them down to the western side of the City of David. He prospered in everything he did.

Now the rest of Hezekiah's accomplishments and his faithful deeds are recorded in the vision of Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

Hezekiah died, as had his fathers, and they buried him in the upper part of the tombs of the descendants of David. All of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. But his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

Manasseh began to reign at the age of twelve years, and continued to reign for 55 years in Jerusalem.

He re-established the high places that his father Hezekiah had demolished, he built altars to the Baals, erected Asherim, and worshipped and served the armies of heaven.

He burned his sons as an offering in the Ben-hinnom Valley, practiced fortune-telling, witchcraft, sorcery, and communicated with mediums and separatists. He did a lot of things that the LORD considered to be evil, thus provoking him.

He also placed an image that he had carved in God's Temple, the place about which God had told to David and to his son Solomon, "I will place my name in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,"

and "I won't let Israel's foothold slip on the land that I've given to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to keep everything that I commanded them in the Law, in the statutes, and in the ordinance through Moses."

This is how Manasseh deceived Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to practice more evil than the nations whom the LORD had eliminated in front of the Israelis.

The LORD kept on speaking to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention to him,

so the LORD brought in the army commanders who worked for the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him in bronze chains, and took him off to Babylon.

and prayed to him. Moved by Manasseh's entreaties, the LORD heard his supplications and brought him back to his kingdom in Jerusalem. That's how Manasseh learned that the LORD is God.

He also eliminated the foreign gods and idols from the LORD's Temple, along with all of the altars that he had built in Jerusalem and on the mountain where the LORD's Temple was located, and he discarded them outside the city.

He set up an altar to the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings on it, and ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

Now as to the rest of Manasseh's accomplishments, including his prayer to God and what the seers had to say to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, they are included among the Acts of the Kings of Israel.

His prayer, how God was moved by him, all of his sin and unfaithfulness, and a record of the sites where he constructed high places, erected Asherim and carved images before he humbled himself are written in the Acts of the Seers.

So Manasseh died, as had his ancestors, and they buried him in his own palace while his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, just as his father Manasseh had done, sacrificing to and serving all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made,

until his servants finally conspired against him and executed him in his own palace.

But the people of the land executed all of the conspirators against King Amon and installed his son Josiah as king to succeed him.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In the twelfth year of his reign, he began to remove the high places, Asherim, carved images, and cast images from Judah and Jerusalem.

They tore down the altars of Baals in his presence. He chopped down the incense altars that stood high above them. He broke into pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to dust, and scattered the residue on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, thus purging Judah and Jerusalem.

In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and their surrounding ruins,

he also tore down altars, destroyed the Asherim and the carved images, grinding them into dust, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purged the land and the Temple, he sent Azaliah's son Shaphan, Maaseiah, mayor of Jerusalem, and Joahaz's son Joah, the recorder, to repair the Temple of the LORD his God.

They approached Hilkiah the high priest and delivered to him the money that had been brought into God's Temple that the descendants of Levi and gatekeepers had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, the surviving Israelis, Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

They paid it to the workmen who supervised the LORD's Temple, and the workmen who were employed in the LORD's Temple to supervise restoration and repair of the Temple.

They, in turn, paid the carpenters and builders to purchase quarried stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that previous kings of Judah had let deteriorate.

The workmen did their duties faithfully with these foremen supervising them: Jahath and Obadiah, descendants of Levi who were Merari's sons, Zechariah and Meshullam, descendants of Kohath, and various descendants of Levi, who were skilled musicians.

These men also supervised the heavy lift workers and supervised all the workmen from job to job, while some of the descendants of Levi served as scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

Shaphan took the book to the king and gave an additional report to the king, telling him "Everything that you've entrusted to your servants is being carried out.

They've removed the money that was found in the LORD's Temple and have passed it on to the supervisors and the workmen."

He issued these orders to Hilkiah, Shaphan's son Ahikam, Micah's son Abdon, Shaphan the scribe, and the king's personal assistant Asaiah:

"Go ask the LORD for me and for those who survive in Israel and in Judah about the words that we've read in this book that we found, because the wrath of the LORD that we deserve to have poured out on us is very great, since our ancestors haven't obeyed the command from the LORD that required us to do everything that is written in this book."

So Hilkiah and the others who had received orders from the king went to visit Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Tokhath's son Shallum, grandson of Hasrah. She was the king's wardrobe supervisor, and she lived in Jerusalem's Second Quarter. They asked her about what had happened.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Tell the man who sent you to me, "This is what the LORD says: "Pay attention! I'm bringing evil to visit this place and its inhabitants every single curse written in the book that they've been reading to the King of Judah.

Because they abandoned me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to become angry at everything they're doing, therefore my wrath is about to be poured out on this place, and it won't be quenched.'"'

"Because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he had to say about this place and its inhabitants indeed, because you humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes, and cried out to me, I have heard you," declares the LORD.

"Look! I'm going to take you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in your grave in peace so that you won't have to see all the evil that I'm going to bring to this place and to its inhabitants."'" So they all brought back this message to the king.

The king sent word to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

Then the king went up to the LORD's Temple, accompanied by the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and descendants of Levi, and everyone else from the most important to the least important, and he read out loud all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the LORD's Temple.

While standing in his appointed place, the king made a public covenant with the LORD to follow the LORD, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, and to do so with all of his heart and soul, and to carry out what was written in the covenant contained in the book.

He also made everyone who was present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand in agreement with him. As a result, the inhabitants of Jerusalem reconfirmed the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah also removed all the detestable things from the territories that belonged to the people of Israel, and made everyone who lived in Israel to serve the LORD their God. For the rest of his life, they didn't abandon their quest to follow the LORD God of their ancestors.

He addressed the descendants of Levi who were teaching all Israel and who had consecrated themselves to the LORD, telling them:

"Put the holy ark in the Temple that Solomon, the son of Israel's King David, built. It will no longer be a burden on their shoulders. Now go serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves by divisions according to your ancestral households, keeping to what King David of Israel and his son Solomon wrote about this.

Now slaughter the Passover, consecrate yourselves, and prepare your relatives to obey the command from the LORD given by Moses."

Josiah contributed 30,000 animals from the flocks of lambs and young goats, giving Passover offerings to all of the people who were present, plus an additional 3,000 bulls from the king's private possessions.

His officers contributed a voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the descendants of Levi. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials who supervised God's Temple, gave 2,600 animals from their flocks to the priests for Passover offerings, along with 300 bulls.

Also, Conaniah, and his relatives Shemaiah, and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the officers in charge of the descendants of Levi, contributed 5,000 animals from the flocks to the descendants of Levi for the Passover offerings, along with 500 bulls.

As a result, the Passover service was prepared, the priests took their assigned places, and the descendants of Levi stood in their divisions as the king had commanded.

They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests poured out the blood that they had received from the lambs while the descendants of Levi flayed the sacrifices.

They roasted the Passover in fire, as required by the ordinances, and boiled the holy things in pots, kettles, and pans, and delivered them quickly to all the people.

After this, because the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, were busy offering the burnt offerings and fat portions until evening, the descendants of Levi prepared the Passover for themselves and their fellow-descendants of Aaron, the priests.

The singers, as descendants of Asaph, remained at their stations as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king's seer Jeduthun required, and the gatekeepers did not have to leave their posts because their descendant of Levi relatives prepared the Passover for them.

That's how the LORD's service was prepared that day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the LORD's altar according to what King Josiah had commanded.

There had not been a Passover celebration like it in Israel since Samuel the prophet was alive, nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated a Passover like Josiah did at that time with the priests, the descendants of Levi, everyone from Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Some time after all of this, after Josiah had finished preparing the Temple, King Neco of Egypt invaded Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah went out to fight him.

But he sent messengers to him, who asked him, "What do we have in common, King of Judah? I am not here today opposing you. I am fighting the dynasty that is fighting me, and God has ordered me to hurry. For your own good, stop interfering with God, who is with me, and he won't destroy you!"

But Josiah wouldn't turn around. In fact, he put on a disguise so he could fight Neco. He wouldn't listen to what God told him through what Neco had to say, and as a result, Josiah came to attack Neco on the Megiddo plain.

Some archers shot King Josiah, and the king told his servants, "Take me away, because I'm badly wounded."

So his servants removed him from the chariot he was in and carried him away in a backup chariot that he had and took him back to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All of Judah and Jerusalem went into mourning for Josiah.

Jeremiah sang a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers recite that lamentation about Josiah to this day. In fact, they made singing it an ordinance in Israel, and they are recorded in the Lamentations.

and his other activities from first to last, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem,

after which the king of Egypt dethroned him and imposed a fine on the land of 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold.

King Neco of Egypt installed Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim as king over Judah and Jerusalem, changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim, and took his brother Joahaz back to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, but he practiced what the LORD his God considered to be evil.

As a result, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him, bound him in bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar also took articles from the LORD's Temple to Babylon and placed them in his temple in Babylon.

The rest of Jehoiakim's accomplishments along with the detestable things that he did that were recorded in his disfavor are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin became king to replace him.

Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem, all the while doing what the LORD considered to be evil.

At the beginning of the next year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, along with valuable articles from the LORD's Temple, and he installed Jehoiachin's relative Zedekiah as king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem.

He practiced what the LORD his God considered to be evil and never humbled himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.

Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear allegiance in the name of God. Instead, he stiffened his resolve, and hardened his heart, and would not return to the LORD God of Israel.

Meanwhile, all the officials who supervised the priests and the people remained unfaithful, following the detestable example of the surrounding nations. They polluted the LORD's Temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The LORD God of their ancestors pleaded with them time and again through his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on the place of his residence,

but they mocked God's messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people.

Therefore he brought up the king of the Chaldeans against them, who executed their young men in the holy Temple, showing no compassion on young man or young virgin, adult men or the aged. God gave them all into the king's control,

who took back to Babylon every article in God's Temple, whether large or small, including the treasuries of the LORD's Temple, the king's assets, and those of his officers.

After this, they set fire to God's Temple, demolished the wall around Jerusalem, burned all of its fortified buildings, and destroyed everything of value.

Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon those who survived the executions, and they served him and his descendants until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

All of this fulfilled what the LORD had predicted through Jeremiah. And so the land enjoyed its Sabbaths, and the length of the land's desolation lasted until a 70-year long Sabbath had been completed.

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.

All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORD God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem.

Furthermore, everyone who wishes to repatriate from any territory where he now resides is to receive assistance from his fellow residents in the form of silver, gold, equipment, and pack animals, in addition to voluntary offerings for the Temple of the God of Jerusalem.

In response, the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and descendants of Levi, and all those who had been prompted by God, prepared to travel to rebuild the Temple of the LORD, which was in Jerusalem.

So all of their neighbors equipped the travelers with silver, gold, equipment, pack animals, and valuable goods, in addition to voluntary offerings.

King Cyrus also brought out from storage the service instruments from the Temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his gods.

Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out to Mithredath the Treasurer, had them inventoried, and had them placed in care of Sheshbazzar, governor of Judah.

The complete inventory of gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all to Jerusalem, along with the exiles from Babylon.

Here is a list of descendants of the province of Judah who returned from the captivity, from those who had been exiled. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken them to Babylon. They came back to Jerusalem and Judah, each one to his town,