2 Kings 18:17-25

New King James Version

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord^(A)

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent the ^[a]Tartan, the ^[b]Rabsaris, and the ^[c]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the ^(B)aqueduct from the upper pool, ^(C)which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ¹⁸ And when they had called to the king, ^(D)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the ^[d]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. ¹⁹ Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: ^(E)“What confidence is this in which you trust? ²⁰ You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are ^[e]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? ^21 (F)Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²² But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^(G)whose ^[f]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’ ²³ Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ²⁴ How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

^26 (H)Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(I)Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in ^[g]Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

²⁷ But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”

²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in ^[h]Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ^(J)‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; ³⁰ nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me ^[i]by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own ^(K)vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(L)a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” ^33 (M)Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of ^(N)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and ^(O)Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, ^(P)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

³⁶ But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(Q)with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Assures Deliverance^(R)

19 And ^(S)so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with ^(T)sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to ^[j]bring them forth. ^4 (U)It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(V)reproach the living God, and will ^(W)rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ^6 (X)And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be ^(Y)afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the ^(Z)servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Surely I will send ^(AA)a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer^(AB)

⁸ Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed ^(AC)from Lachish. ⁹ And ^(AD)the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war with you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God ^(AE)in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? ^12 (AF)Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of ^(AG)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (AH)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

^14 (AI)And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One ^(AJ)who dwells between the cherubim, ^(AK)You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ^16 (AL)Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(AM)open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, ^(AN)which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were ^(AO)not gods, but ^(AP)the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, ^(AQ)that all the kingdoms of the earth may ^(AR)know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib^(AS)

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(AT)‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, ^(AU)I have heard.’ ²¹ This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ ‘This shall be a ^(BH)sign to you:

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death^(BO)

³⁵ And ^(BP)it came to pass on a certain night that the ^[m]angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at ^(BQ)Nineveh. ³⁷ Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons ^(BR)Adrammelech and Sharezer ^(BS)struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then ^(BT)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah’s Life Extended^(BU)

20 In ^(BV)those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”

² Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, ^3 (BW)“Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return and tell Hezekiah ^(BX)the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(BY)“I have heard your prayer, I have seen ^(BZ)your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^(CA)I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

⁷ Then ^(CB)Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(CC)“What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?”

⁹ Then Isaiah said, ^(CD)“This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?”

¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten ^[n]degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

¹¹ So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and ^(CE)He brought the shadow ten ^[o]degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

The Babylonian Envoys^(CF)

^12 (CG)At that time ^[p]Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And ^(CH)Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and ^[q]all ^[r]his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”

So Hezekiah answered, ^(CI)“They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, ^(CJ)shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘And ^(CK)they shall take away some of your sons who will ^[s]descend from you, whom you will beget; ^(CL)and they shall be ^(CM)eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

¹⁹ So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(CN)“The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?”

Death of Hezekiah^(CO)

^20 (CP)Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he ^(CQ)made a ^(CR)pool and a ^[t]tunnel and ^(CS)brought water into the city—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²¹ So ^(CT)Hezekiah ^[u]rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Manasseh Reigns in Judah^(CU)

21 Manasseh ^(CV)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, ^(CW)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the ^[v]high places ^(CX)which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a ^[w]wooden image, ^(CY)as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he ^(CZ)worshiped all ^[x]the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (DA)He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(DB)“In Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the ^(DC)two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (DD)Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced ^(DE)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 ^[y]Asherah that he had made, in the ^[z]house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, ^(DF)“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; ^8 (DG)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 ^(DH)seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke ^(DI)by His servants the prophets, saying, ^11 (DJ)“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (^(DK)he has acted more wickedly than all the ^(DL)Amorites who were before him, and ^(DM)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 ^(DN)his ears will tingle. ¹³ And I will stretch over Jerusalem ^(DO)the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; ^(DP)I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ So I will forsake the ^(DQ)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 (DR)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 ^(DS)the rest of the acts of ^(DT)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 ^(DU)Manasseh ^[aa]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^(DV)

^19 (DW)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, ^(DX)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 ^(DY)forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.

^23 (DZ)Then the servants of Amon ^(EA)conspired against him, and killed the king in his own house. ²⁴ But the people of the land ^(EB)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^(EC)

22 Josiah ^(ED)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 ^(EE)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 ^(EF)did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law^(EG)

^3 (EH)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 ^(EI)brought into the house of the Lord, which ^(EJ)the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. ⁵ And let them ^(EK)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 ^(EL)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, ^(EM)“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 ^[ab]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, ^(EN)Ahikam the son of Shaphan, ^[ac]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 ^(EO)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 ^(EP)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, ^(EQ)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 (ER)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 ^(ES)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 ^(ET)heart was tender, and you ^(EU)humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become ^(EV)a desolation and ^(EW)a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “Surely, therefore, I will ^[ad]gather you to your fathers, and you ^(EX)shall ^[ae]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^(EY)

23 Now ^(EZ)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 ^(FA)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(FB)which had been found in the house of the Lord.

³ Then the king ^(FC)stood by a pillar and made a ^(FD)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 ^(FE)priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring ^(FF)out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for ^[af]Asherah, and for all ^[ag]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 ^[ah]constellations, and to ^(FG)all the host of heaven. ⁶ And he brought out the ^(FH)wooden^[ai] image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ^(FI)ashes, and threw its ashes on ^(FJ)the graves of the common people. ⁷ Then he tore down the ritual ^[aj]booths ^(FK)of the ^[ak]perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, ^(FL)where the ^(FM)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 ^(FN)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 (FO)Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, ^(FP)but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.

¹⁰ And he defiled ^(FQ)Topheth, which is in ^(FR)the Valley of the ^[al]Son of Hinnom, ^(FS)that no man might make his son or his daughter ^(FT)pass through the fire to Molech. ¹¹ Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had ^[am]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 ^(FU)on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which ^(FV)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 ^[an]high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the ^[ao]south of ^[ap]the Mount of Corruption, which ^(FW)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 ^(FX)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 ^[aq]high place ^(FY)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 ^(FZ)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 ^(GA)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 ^(GB)the prophet who came from Samaria.

¹⁹ Now Josiah also took away all the ^[ar]shrines of the ^[as]high places that were ^(GC)in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke ^[at]the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. ^20 (GD)He ^(GE)executed all the priests of the ^[au]high places who were there, on the altars, and ^(GF)burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, ^(GG)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^(GH)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (GI)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 ^(GJ)the law which were written in the book ^(GK)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (GL)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, ^(GM)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 ^(GN)I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, ^(GO)‘My name shall be there.’ ”

Josiah Dies in Battle^(GP)

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 (GQ)In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went ^[av]to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at ^(GR)Megiddo when he ^(GS)confronted him. ^30 (GT)Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And ^(GU)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^(GV)

^31 (GW)Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(GX)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 ^(GY)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 ^(GZ)Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and ^(HA)changed his name to ^(HB)Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz ^(HC)and went to Egypt, and ^[aw]he died there.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah^(HD)

³⁵ So Jehoiakim gave ^(HE)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 (HF)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 ^(HG)his days Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(HH)Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ^2 (HI)And the Lord sent against him raiding ^[ax]bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(HJ)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 ^(HK)because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, ^4 (HL)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 (HM)So Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁷ And ^(HN)the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for ^(HO)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^(HP)

^8 (HQ)Jehoiachin^[ay] 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 (HR)At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city ^[az]was besieged. ¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it. ^12 (HS)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, ^(HT)in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.

The Captivity of Jerusalem

^13 (HU)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 ^(HV)cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, ^(HW)as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ Also ^(HX)he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ^(HY)ten thousand captives, and ^(HZ)all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except ^(IA)the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ And ^(IB)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 (IC)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^(ID)

¹⁷ Then ^(IE)the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, ^(IF)Jehoiachin’s^[ba] uncle, king in his place, and ^(IG)changed his name to Zedekiah.

^18 (IH)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(II)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ^19 (IJ)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. ^(IK)Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall and Captivity of Judah^(IL)

25 Now it came to pass ^(IM)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 ^(IN)fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

⁴ Then ^(IO)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 ^(IP)the king^[bb] went by way of the ^[bc]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 ^(IQ)at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. ⁷ Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^(IR)put^[bd] out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.

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

¹¹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive ^(IZ)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 ^(JA)left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. ^13 (JB)The bronze ^(JC)pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and ^(JD)the carts and ^(JE)the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and ^(JF)carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took away ^(JG)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, ^(JH)the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ^17 (JI)The height of one pillar was ^[be]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.