He removed the high places [of pagan worship], broke down the images (memorial stones) and cut down the Asherim. He also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the Israelites had burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan [a bronze sculpture].

At that time Hezekiah cut away the gold framework from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts which he had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

But the people kept silent and did not answer him, for the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the [royal] household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn [in grief and despair] and told him what the Rabshakeh had said.

So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah]; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

‘Therefore their inhabitants were powerless,
They were shattered [in spirit] and put to shame;
They were like plants of the field, the green herb,
As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.

Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the steps ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

At that time Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

For he rebuilt the high places [for the worship of pagan gods] which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he set up altars for Baal and made an [image of] Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served them.

He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done.

Then the people of the land [of Judah] killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense [to pagan gods] in the high places in Judah’s cities and all around Jerusalem—also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations [of the zodiac], and to all the [starry] host of heaven.

Josiah brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, and burned it there, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people [who had sacrificed to it].

Then Josiah brought all the [idolatrous] priests from the cities of Judah, and desecrated the high places where the priests had burned incense [to idols], from Geba to Beersheba, [that is, north to south]; and he tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.

And he got rid of the horses that the kings of Judah had given [in worship] to the sun at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the annex; and he burned the chariots of the sun.

The altars [dedicated to the starry host of heaven] which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord, the king tore down; and he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.

The king desecrated the high places which were opposite [east of] Jerusalem, which were on the right (south) of the mount of corruption which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the repulsiveness of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the repulsiveness of Moab, and for Milcom the repulsiveness of the sons (descendants) of Ammon.

Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking the Lord [to anger]; and he did to them just as he had done [to those] in Bethel.

However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath which was kindled against Judah because of all the despicable acts with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his forefathers had done.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his forefathers had done.

Surely this came on Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of [King] Manasseh, in accordance with everything that he had done,

The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father had done.

He carried out of there (Jerusalem) all the treasures of the house (temple) of the Lord, and the treasures of the house (palace) of the king, and cut in pieces all the articles of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the Lord had said.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that Jehoiakim had done.

The two pillars, the one sea (large basin), and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable.

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (27 ft.), and a capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of the capital was three cubits (4.5 ft.); a network (lattice work) and pomegranates around the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

Now over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah, he appointed [as governor] Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

When all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, 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.

And Caleb the son of Hezron had sons by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. Azubah’s sons were: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

Segub became the father of Jair, who [later] had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

Jerahmeel had another wife, named Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

Sheshan had no sons—only daughters. But Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.

Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had [other] sons (descendants): Haroeh, half of the Manahathites [in Judah],

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 sons, neither did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah.

and all their villages that were around these towns as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they have their genealogical record.

They found rich, good pasture, and the [cleared] land was wide, quiet, and peaceful; for those who had lived there previously came from Ham [and had left it a better place for those who came after them].

They destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and they have lived there to this day (the date of this writing).

To the east Bela settled as far as the entrance into the desert from the river Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the prostitute with the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

They ministered with singing before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon had built the Lord’s house (temple) in Jerusalem, performing their service in due order.

But [the line of] Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, ministering for all the work of the Holy of Holies (Most Holy Place), and [they did so] to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses, God’s servant, had commanded.

Some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their [allotted] territory from the tribe of Ephraim.

With them by their generations according to their fathers’ households were 36,000 troops of the army for war, for they had many wives and children.

Machir took as a wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim; her name was Maacah. The name of a second [descendant, the first being Gilead], was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had [only] daughters.

Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead were killed by men who were natives of Gath, because they came down to take their livestock.

Then he went in to his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Beriah (on misfortune), because tragedy had come on his house.

Shaharaim became the father of children in the country of Moab after he had sent away (divorced) Hushim and Baara his wives.

By Hushim he became the father of Abitub and Elpaal.

Azel had six sons, and these were their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.

Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his relatives of his father’s house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, doorkeepers of the Tent; and their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, keepers of the entrance.

All those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds were 212. They were enrolled by their genealogies in their villages [around Jerusalem], these men [whose grandfathers] David and Samuel the seer had appointed to their official duty.

So they and their sons were in charge of the gates of the house of the Lord, that is, the house of the tabernacle, as guards.

Now some of them were in charge of the serving utensils, being required to count them when they brought them in or took them out.

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

When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

When all Jabesh-gilead heard about everything that the Philistines had done to Saul,

He was with David at Pasdammim [where David had killed Goliath] and there the Philistines were gathered together for battle, and there was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people [of Israel] fled before the Philistines.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a courageous man of Kabzeel who had done great things, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Also he went down and killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day.

These are the men who crossed over the Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all its banks and they put to flight all those in the valleys, east and west.

Of the tribe of Benjamin, the relatives of [King] Saul, 3,000; for until now the majority of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul.

Of the tribe of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, two hundred chiefs; and all their relatives were at their command;

They were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their relatives had prepared for them.

David became angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzza; so that place is called Perez-uzza to this day.

So the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.

And David understood that the Lord had established and confirmed him as king over Israel, for his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel.

Now these are the names of the children born [to him] in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the Valley of Rephaim.

And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place which he had prepared for it.

So they brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

When Tou king of Hamath heard how David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

he sent Hadoram his son to King David to greet him and to bless (congratulate) him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze.

When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David, Hanun and his people sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

The Ammonites came out and lined up in battle formation at the entrance of the city [Medeba], while the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.

Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot; and he also was descended from the giants.

At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.

Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons [not enough for a father’s house or clan], so they were [counted together] as one father’s household, one working group.

The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah’s sons were very many [in number].

Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters only, and their relatives, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

These were their offices and positions for their service in the house of the Lord according to the ordinance given to them by their father (ancestor) Aaron, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

By Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.

Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,

Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,

Meshelemiah had sons and relatives, eighteen courageous men.

Also Hosah, one of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri the first and chief (although he was not the firstborn, his father made him first),

This Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of all the treasuries of the dedicated gifts which King David, the heads of the fathers’ households, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the commanders of the army, had dedicated.

Also all that Samuel the seer had dedicated, and Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner and Joab the son of Zeruiah, everyone who had dedicated anything, this was in the care of Shelomoth and his relatives.

But David did not count those twenty years of age and under, for the Lord had said he would multiply Israel as the stars of heaven.

and the plan of all that he had in mind, for the courts of the house of the Lord, and for all the surrounding rooms, for the storerooms of the house of God and for the storerooms for the dedicated gifts and offerings;

Whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.

Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole and blameless heart they had offered freely to the Lord. King David also rejoiced greatly.

The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel.

Then Solomon and all the assembly went to the high place at Gibeon [to offer sacrifices, where the Canaanites had habitually worshiped], for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.

But David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

Now the bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out.