2 Kings 21-25

New King James Version

Manasseh Reigns in Judah^(A)

21 Manasseh ^(B)was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(C)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the ^[a]high places ^(D)which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a ^[b]wooden image, ^(E)as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he ^(F)worshiped all ^[c]the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (G)He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(H)“In Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the ^(I)two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (J)Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced ^(K)soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ⁷ He even set a carved image of ^[d]Asherah that he had made, in the ^[e]house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, ^(L)“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; ^8 (M)and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers—only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they paid no attention, and Manasseh ^(N)seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke ^(O)by His servants the prophets, saying, ^11 (P)“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (^(Q)he has acted more wickedly than all the ^(R)Amorites who were before him, and ^(S)has also made Judah sin with his idols), ¹² therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both ^(T)his ears will tingle. ¹³ And I will stretch over Jerusalem ^(U)the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; ^(V)I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ So I will forsake the ^(W)remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’ ”

^16 (X)Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁷ Now ^(Y)the rest of the acts of ^(Z)Manasseh—all that he did, and the sin that he committed—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸ So ^(AA)Manasseh ^[f]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.

Amon’s Reign and Death^(AB)

^19 (AC)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AD)as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked; and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them. ²² He ^(AE)forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.

^23 (AF)Then the servants of Amon ^(AG)conspired against him, and killed the king in his own house. ²⁴ But the people of the land ^(AH)executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁶ And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then Josiah his son reigned in his place.

Josiah Reigns in Judah^(AI)

22 Josiah ^(AJ)was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of ^(AK)Bozkath. ² And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he ^(AL)did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law^(AM)

^3 (AN)Now it came to pass, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the house of the Lord, saying: ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which has been ^(AO)brought into the house of the Lord, which ^(AP)the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. ⁵ And let them ^(AQ)deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the Lord; let them give it to those who are in the house of the Lord doing the work, to repair the damages of the house— ⁶ to carpenters and builders and masons—and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. ⁷ However ^(AR)there need be no accounting made with them of the money delivered into their hand, because they deal faithfully.”

⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, ^(AS)“I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, “Your servants have ^[g]gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the Lord.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

¹¹ Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, ^(AT)Ahikam the son of Shaphan, ^[h]Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is ^(AU)the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ^(AV)Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her. ¹⁵ Then she said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, ¹⁶ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, ^(AW)I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read— ^17 (AX)because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.’ ” ’ ¹⁸ But as for ^(AY)the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard— ¹⁹ because your ^(AZ)heart was tender, and you ^(BA)humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become ^(BB)a desolation and ^(BC)a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “Surely, therefore, I will ^[i]gather you to your fathers, and you ^(BD)shall ^[j]be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.

Josiah Restores True Worship^(BE)

23 Now ^(BF)the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. ² The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he ^(BG)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(BH)which had been found in the house of the Lord.

³ Then the king ^(BI)stood by a pillar and made a ^(BJ)covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. ⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the ^(BK)priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring ^(BL)out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for ^[k]Asherah, and for all ^[l]the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the ^[m]constellations, and to ^(BM)all the host of heaven. ⁶ And he brought out the ^(BN)wooden^[n] image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ^(BO)ashes, and threw its ashes on ^(BP)the graves of the common people. ⁷ Then he tore down the ritual ^[o]booths ^(BQ)of the ^[p]perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, ^(BR)where the ^(BS)women wove hangings for the wooden image. ⁸ And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from ^(BT)Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. ^9 (BU)Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, ^(BV)but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.

¹⁰ And he defiled ^(BW)Topheth, which is in ^(BX)the Valley of the ^[q]Son of Hinnom, ^(BY)that no man might make his son or his daughter ^(BZ)pass through the fire to Molech. ¹¹ Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had ^[r]dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² The altars that were ^(CA)on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which ^(CB)Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. ¹³ Then the king defiled the ^[s]high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the ^[t]south of ^[u]the Mount of Corruption, which ^(CC)Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. ¹⁴ And he ^(CD)broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.

¹⁵ Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the ^[v]high place ^(CE)which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. ¹⁶ As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the ^(CF)word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?”

So the men of the city told him, “It is ^(CG)the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸ And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of ^(CH)the prophet who came from Samaria.

¹⁹ Now Josiah also took away all the ^[w]shrines of the ^[x]high places that were ^(CI)in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke ^[y]the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. ^20 (CJ)He ^(CK)executed all the priests of the ^[z]high places who were there, on the altars, and ^(CL)burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, ^(CM)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^(CN)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (CO)Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. ²⁴ Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of ^(CP)the law which were written in the book ^(CQ)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (CR)Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

Impending Judgment on Judah

²⁶ Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, ^(CS)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as ^(CT)I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, ^(CU)‘My name shall be there.’ ”

Josiah Dies in Battle^(CV)

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ^29 (CW)In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went ^[aa]to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at ^(CX)Megiddo when he ^(CY)confronted him. ^30 (CZ)Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And ^(DA)the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz^(DB)

^31 (DC)Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(DD)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. ³³ Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison ^(DE)at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴ Then ^(DF)Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and ^(DG)changed his name to ^(DH)Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz ^(DI)and went to Egypt, and ^[ab]he died there.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah^(DJ)

³⁵ So Jehoiakim gave ^(DK)the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. ^36 (DL)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

Judah Overrun by Enemies

24 In ^(DM)his days Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(DN)Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ^2 (DO)And the Lord sent against him raiding ^[ac]bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(DP)according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. ³ Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight ^(DQ)because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, ^4 (DR)and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.

⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ^6 (DS)So Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁷ And ^(DT)the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for ^(DU)the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin^(DV)

^8 (DW)Jehoiachin^[ad] was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

^10 (DX)At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city ^[ae]was besieged. ¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it. ^12 (DY)Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, ^(DZ)in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.

The Captivity of Jerusalem

^13 (EA)And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he ^(EB)cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, ^(EC)as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ Also ^(ED)he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ^(EE)ten thousand captives, and ^(EF)all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except ^(EG)the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ And ^(EH)he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ^16 (EI)All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah^(EJ)

¹⁷ Then ^(EK)the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, ^(EL)Jehoiachin’s^[af] uncle, king in his place, and ^(EM)changed his name to Zedekiah.

^18 (EN)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(EO)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ^19 (EP)He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, that He finally cast them out from His presence. ^(EQ)Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall and Captivity of Judah^(ER)

25 Now it came to pass ^(ES)in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. ² So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ By the ninth day of the ^(ET)fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

⁴ Then ^(EU)the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And ^(EV)the king^[ag] went by way of the ^[ah]plain. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. ⁶ So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon ^(EW)at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. ⁷ Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^(EX)put^[ai] out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.

⁸ And in the fifth month, ^(EY)on the seventh day of the month (which was ^(EZ)the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ^(FA)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ^9 (FB)He burned the house of the Lord ^(FC)and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, ^(FD)he burned with fire. ¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ^(FE)broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

¹¹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive ^(FF)the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. ¹² But the captain of the guard ^(FG)left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. ^13 (FH)The bronze ^(FI)pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and ^(FJ)the carts and ^(FK)the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and ^(FL)carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took away ^(FM)the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. ¹⁵ The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. ¹⁶ The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, ^(FN)the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ^17 (FO)The height of one pillar was ^[aj]eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.

^18 (FP)And the captain of the guard took ^(FQ)Seraiah the chief priest, ^(FR)Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, ^(FS)five men of ^[ak]the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰ So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. ^(FT)Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah^(FU)

²² Then he made Gedaliah the son of ^(FV)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over ^(FW)the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. ²³ Now when all the ^(FX)captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and ^[al]Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. ²⁴ And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

²⁵ But ^(FY)it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose ^(FZ)and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison^(GA)

^27 (GB)Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that ^[am]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, ^(GC)released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ^(GD)ate ^[an]bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. ³⁰ And as for his ^[ao]provisions, there was a ^[ap]regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.