"This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: "You haven't lived like your father Jehoshaphat and like King Asa of Judah. Instead, you have lived like the kings of Israel by causing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit cultic sexual immorality just like Ahab's dynasty did! And you've killed your brothers who were better than you your own father's dynasty!

And as for you, you will suffer from a serious disease of your bowels. Eventually, day-by-day you will excrete your own bowels because of this disease."

And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

This continued day after day until two full years passed. Then his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died from severe illnesses. But his people did not hold a fire in his honor like the fire in honor of his fathers.

Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years. He left this earth to nobody's regret and they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors;

Jehoiada the priest sent out the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, and ordered them, "Bring her outside the temple to the guards. Put the sword to anyone who follows her." The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord's temple.

After this, Jehoiada drew up a covenant between himself as an individual with all the people, and between himself as king, that they would be the LORD's people.

And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.

He gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather money to repair the house of your God from all Israel from year to year. See that you expedite this matter." However the Levites didn't do it right away.

Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of money, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.

And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada. Of this silver were made vessels for the house of Jehovah, vessels to minister and to offer, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they continually offered burnt offerings in the house of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada.

And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

The Spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands and you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, He has abandoned you.’”

This is how King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had shown him: he killed his son. As he lay dying, Zechariah cried out, "May the LORD watch this and avenge."

But a man of God came to him, saying, “O king, do not let this army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim.

And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.

And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.

After this, King Amaziah of Judah sought some advice and then challenged Jehoahaz' son King Joash of Israel, the grandson of Jehu, telling him, "Come out and let's fight each other!"

King Joash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thorn bush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son as a wife.' Then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn bush.

But Amaziah would not listen, for this turn of events was from God in order to hand them over to their enemies because they went after the gods of Edom.

And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.

Uzziah passed away and was buried near his ancestors in a cemetery belonging to the kings. (This was because he had a skin disease.) His son Jotham replaced him as king.

And he fought against the king of the children of Ammon, and overcame them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. This the children of Ammon brought again to him also in the second year, and in the third.

More than this, he had offerings burned in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his children go through fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.

After this, some men who were chosen by name took charge of the captives, clothed those who were naked with clothes appropriated from the war booty, gave them clothes and sandals, fed them, gave them something to drink, anointed them with oil, provided those who weren't able to walk with donkeys to ride on, and took them back to their relatives at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.

For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

After this, they went to King Hezekiah and told him, "We have cleansed all of the LORD's Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, all of its utensils, the table of showbread, and all of its utensils.

And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

After this, Hezekiah announced, "Now that you've consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near and bring your sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the LORD's Temple." So the assembly brought sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and everyone who was willing to do so brought burnt offerings.

This decision seemed to be a good one in the opinion of the king and of the entire assembly,

Messengers delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah. This royal edict read: "O Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria.

For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

Even though a large crowd of people from as far away as Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not completed consecrating themselves, they still ate the Passover in a manner not proscribed by the Law, because Hezekiah had prayed like this for them: "May the good LORD extend a pardon on behalf of

After this, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, and so they did and they were very happy to do so!

and there is great joy in Jerusalem; for from the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there is not like this in Jerusalem,

After this, the priests arose, blessed the people, and their voices were heard in prayer all the way to heaven, where God resides in holiness.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

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 store.

Then Hezekiah said that store-rooms were to be made ready in the house of the Lord; and this was done.

they brought in the contributions, tithes, and consecrated items that had been offered. Konaniah, a Levite, was in charge of all this, assisted by his brother Shimei.

This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah; and he did what was good, right, and true before the Lord his God.

After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself.

"Be strong and brave! Don't be afraid and don't panic because of the king of Assyria and this huge army that is with him! We have with us one who is stronger than those who are with him.

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

“This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you relying on that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?

Has not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Give worship before one altar only, burning offerings on it?

Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand?

Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: "Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven't delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won't deliver his people from me!"

They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so 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 many are bringing in an offering to Jehovah, to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, and he is lifted up before the eyes of all the nations after this.

During this time Hezekiah became critically ill, and he prayed to the LORD. The LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign.

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.

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.

More than this, he made his children go through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he made use of secret arts, and signs for reading the future, and unnatural powers, and gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers: he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.

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:

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.

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

And he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more.

He did this in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins.

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.

Then Hilkiah and those whom the king [had sent] went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this.

She said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel says: Say to the man who sent you to Me,

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:

Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto 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.

Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to ask Yahweh, ‘This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard,

Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.

Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine 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.

"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.

In addition to this, take your place in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the ancestral households of your relatives consistent with the division of the descendants of Levi by their ancestral households.

They set aside in reserve the burnt offerings, so they could distribute them in proportion to the divisions of their ancestral households for presentation by the people to the LORD, as is required by the book of Moses. They did this with respect to the bulls, also.

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.

A Passover like this had not been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had observed a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah and Israel who were there, and the residents of Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

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 ambassadors 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 wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

Archers shot King Josiah; the king ordered his servants, "Take me out of this chariot, for I am seriously wounded."

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

After this, the people of the land installed Josiah's son Jehoahaz in Jerusalem as king to take his father's place.

And more than this, all the great men of Judah and the priests and the people made their sin great, turning to all the disgusting ways of the nations; and they made unclean the house of the Lord which he had made holy in Jerusalem.

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.

This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until 70 years were fulfilled.

During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form:

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a temple at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you of His people may go up, and may the Lord his God be with him.

During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form:

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

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.

And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

All of the objects of gold and silver metal [were] five thousand four hundred. All this Sheshbazzar brought up along with the exiles from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

and came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah. This is now the number of the men of the people of Israel:

They contributed to the treasury for this work in accordance with their ability: 61,000 golden drachma, 5,000 units of silver, and 100 priestly robes.

and after this a continual burnt-offering, and for new moons, and for all appointed seasons of Jehovah that are sanctified; and for every one who is willingly offering a willing-offering to Jehovah.

At this time Jeshua, along with his children and relatives, and Kadmiel, with his children and the descendants of Judah, joined the family of Henadad with his children and relatives, and the descendants of Levi in overseeing the work on the Temple of God.

But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families with this message: "Let's build along with you, because, like you, we seek your God, as do you, and we've been making sacrifices to him since the reign of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here."

After this, the non-Israeli inhabitants of the land undermined the people of Judah, harassing them in their construction work

And during the reign of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues wrote to King Artaxerxes of Persia. This letter was first written in Aramaic but then translated. [Aramaic:]