Now [this] happened because the {Israelites} had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods.

They walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out from before the {Israelites}, which the kings of Israel had introduced.

They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing!"

They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he {made} with their ancestors, and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and [went] after all the nations which [were] all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they [did].

For he had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, but Jeroboam detached Israel from following Yahweh, and he made them sin a great sin.

until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence as he had foretold by the hand of all his servants, the prophets. And so he deported Israel from upon his land to Assyria until this day.

So one of the priests went, whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh.

Yet every nation was making their gods, and they put them in the shrine of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they [were] living.

Until this day they [are] doing according to their former customs; none of them [are] fearing Yahweh, and none of them [are] doing according to their statutes, to their decisions, to the law, or to the commands that Yahweh commanded the descendants of Jacob [to] which he had given the name Israel.

Yahweh had {made} a covenant with them and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods, nor shall you bow down to them, nor shall you serve them, nor shall you sacrifice to them.

He did right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his ancestor had done.

He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for up to those days the {Israelites} were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.

He held on to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, and he kept his commands that Yahweh had commanded Moses.

because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, and they transgressed his covenant; all that he had commanded Moses, the servant of Yahweh, they did not listen [to] nor did they obey.

At that time, Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and he gave them to the king of Assyria.

But if you say to me, 'On Yahweh our God we trust,' [is] it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, and he had said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'In the presence of this altar you shall bow down [only] in Jerusalem?'

When [the] chief commander returned, he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

Isaiah had not gone out from the middle of the city when the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

Isaiah the prophet called to Yahweh, and he brought back the shadow on the steps where it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, backwards ten steps.

At that time, Berodak-Baladan the son of Baladan king of {Babylon} sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the {Israelites}.

He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them.

He built altars in the temple of Yahweh [about] which Yahweh had said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."

He put the image of the Asherah that he had made in the temple which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done.

He walked in all of the way which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served and bowed down to them.

Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh.

He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained [to] burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which [was] in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.

The altars which [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 courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron.

The high places which [were] east of Jerusalem, which [were] on the south of the Mountain of Destruction which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the detestable thing of the {Ammonites}, the king defiled.

Moreover, the altar which [was] in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, had built, even that altar and the high place, [Josiah] tore down. Then he burned down the high place and crushed [the] pole of Asherah worship to dust and burned it with fire.

When Josiah turned and saw the tombs which [were] there on the hill, he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned [them] on the altar. [Thus] he defiled them according to the word of Yahweh that the man of God had proclaimed who had proclaimed these things.

So Josiah said, "Let him rest and let no man move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

Moreover, all of the shrines of the high places which [were] in the towns of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [Yahweh], Josiah removed, and he did to them like all of the deeds he had done in Bethel

For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel {or} [during] the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found [in] the temple of Yahweh.

However, Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great anger which was kindled against Judah because of all of the provocations [with] which Manasseh had provoked him.

Yahweh had said, "Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I have removed Israel; I will reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem and the house [of] which I said, 'My name shall be there'!"

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all his ancestors had done.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his ancestors had done.

In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up [because] Jehoiakim had become his servant [for] three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the {Ammonites}. He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets.

Surely, it was {on the command} of Yahweh against Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done.

Also, [for] the blood of the innocent that he had shed--and he filled Jerusalem [with] innocent blood--Yahweh was not willing to forgive.

The king of Egypt did not again come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken [territory] from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done.

Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh [just] like all that Jehoiakim had done.

The remainder of the people left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard deported.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the water cart which Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh, there was no weighing to the bronze of all of these vessels.

When all of the commanders of the troops heard, they and the men, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, [even] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seriah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

And Segub fathered Jair, and he had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

And Jerahmeel had another wife, and her name [was] Atarah. She [was] the mother of Onam.

And Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but Sheshan had an Egyptian slave, and his name [was] Jarha.

And Shobal the father of Kiriath-Jearim had [other] sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth.

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

Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children. But all their families did not multiply like the men of Judah.

And they destroyed the remainder of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.

He also lived to the east up to the entrance of the desert {this side of} the River Euphrates, for their livestock had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh [had] {valiant} men [who] carried a shield and a sword, and archers, and [who were] expert in war, forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty [for] going out [as] an army.

But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

And in addition to them, according to their generations, according to the house of their fathers, [were] troops of the army for war: thirty-six thousand. For {they had} many wives and sons.

And Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. And the name of his sister [was] Maacah. And the name of the second, Zelophehad. And Zelophehad had daughters.

And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And he called his name Beriah because disaster [had been] upon his house.

And Bela had sons: Addar, Gera, Abihud,

And Shaharaim fathered [children] in the fields of Moab after he had sent them away--Hushim and Baara, his wives.

And Azel had six sons, and these [are] their names: Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these [were] the sons of Azel.

And the sons of Ulam were men [who were] mighty warriors, bowmen, and [they had] many sons and grandsons, one hundred and fifty. All these were Benjaminites.

And they lodged all around the house of God, for upon them [was] a responsibility. And {they had charge of opening [the house of God] every morning}.

And Azel had six sons, and these [are] their names: Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These [were] the sons of Azel.

And when all the men of Israel who [were] in the valley saw that they had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and dwelled in them.

When all Jabesh-Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,

So Saul died on account of his sin which he had sinned against Yahweh concerning the command of Yahweh that he did not keep. He also consulted a medium to seek [guidance].

And David had a craving, and he said, "Who could give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem that [is] by the gate!"

These things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did and had a name among the three mighty warriors.

And from the Gadites, valiant mighty warriors, {soldiers fit for war}, expert with shield and spear, defected to David at the fortress toward the wilderness. And {they had faces like lions} [and were] swift as gazelles upon the mountains.

All these [were] men of war arrayed in battle line {with a whole heart}. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel [had] one heart to make David king.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzza reached out his hand to hold the ark because the cattle had stumbled.

And David {was angry} because Yahweh had broken out in wrath against Uzza. And that place is called Perez Uzza unto this day.

And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And Yahweh blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that he had.

And David knew that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel [and] that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed as king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard and went out from before them.

Then David ordered [that] none except the Levites should carry the ark of God, for Yahweh had chosen them to carry the ark of Yahweh and to serve him forever.

And David gathered all Israel to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Yahweh to its place that he had established for it.

And they brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God.

And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh.

And Heman and Jeduthun with them [had] trumpets and cymbals for making music, along with instruments for the song of God. And the sons of Jeduthun [were] at the gate.

And when Tou the king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer the king of Zobah,

he sent Hadoram his son to King David to ask him for peace and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Tou {had been at war} with Hadadezer. And [he brought with him] all the objects of gold, silver, and bronze.

King David dedicated these also to Yahweh, along with the silver and gold that he had taken from all the nations, from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and Amalek.

And the {Ammonites} went out and took up positions for battle at the entrance of the city. And the kings who had come [were] alone in the field.

And when the {Ammonites} saw that Aram had fled, they also fled before Abishai his brother, and they came to the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

And again there was war in Gath. And there was a {very tall} man [there], and {he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all}. He himself [was] also a descendant of the Rephaim.

Now the angel of Yahweh had spoken to Gad to say to David that David should go up [and] erect an altar for Yahweh.

So David went up at the word of Gad that he had spoken in the name of Yahweh.

Now the tabernacle of Yahweh that Moses had made in the desert and the altar of burnt offering [were] at that time at the high place of Gibeon.

And David said to Solomon his son, "I myself had in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God,

And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah, the head. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.