2 Kings 18-23

Easy-to-Read Version

Hezekiah Begins His Rule Over Judah

18 Hezekiah son of Ahaz was king of Judah. Hezekiah began to rule during the third year that Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel. ² Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi,^[a] the daughter of Zechariah.

³ Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right, just as David his ancestor had done.

⁴ Hezekiah destroyed the high places. He broke the memorial stones and cut down the Asherah poles. At that time the Israelites burned incense to the bronze snake made by Moses. This bronze snake was called “Nehushtan.”^[b] Hezekiah broke this bronze snake into pieces.

⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah before him or after him. ⁶ He was very faithful to the Lord and did not stop following him. He obeyed the commands that the Lord had given to Moses. ⁷ The Lord was with Hezekiah, so he was successful in everything he did.

Hezekiah broke away from the king of Assyria and stopped serving him. ⁸ Hezekiah defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and the area around it. He defeated all the Philistine cities—from the smallest town to the largest city.

The Assyrians Capture Samaria

⁹ King Shalmaneser of Assyria went to fight against Samaria. His army surrounded the city. This happened during the fourth year that Hezekiah was king of Judah. (This was also the seventh year that Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel.) ¹⁰ At the end of the third year, Shalmaneser captured Samaria. He took Samaria during the sixth year that Hezekiah was king of Judah. (This was also the ninth year that Hoshea was king of Israel.) ¹¹ The king of Assyria took the Israelites as prisoners to Assyria. He made them live in Halah, on the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² This happened because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God. They broke his agreement and did not obey everything that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. The Israelites would not listen to the Lord’s agreement, or do what it taught them to do.

Assyria Gets Ready to Take Judah

¹³ During Hezekiah’s 14th year as king, King Sennacherib of Assyria went to fight against all the strong cities of Judah. Sennacherib defeated them all. ¹⁴ Then King Hezekiah of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. Hezekiah said, “I have done wrong. Leave me alone, and I will pay whatever you want.”

Then the king of Assyria told King Hezekiah of Judah to pay over 11 tons^[c] of silver and over 1 ton^[d] of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave all the silver that was in the Lord’s Temple and in the king’s treasuries. ¹⁶ That is when Hezekiah cut off the gold that he had put on the doors and doorposts of the Lord’s Temple and gave it to the king of Assyria.

King of Assyria Sends Men to Jerusalem

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his three most important officers with a large army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. They left Lachish and went to Jerusalem. They stood near the aqueduct by the Upper Pool,^[e] on the street that leads up to Laundryman’s Field. ¹⁸ These men called for the king, but Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah son of Asaph went out to meet them. Eliakim was the palace manager, Joah was the record keeper, and Shebna was the royal secretary.

¹⁹ The commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah this is what the great king, the king of Assyria says:

‘What are you trusting in to help you? ²⁰ If you say, “I trust in power and great battle plans,” then that is useless. Now I ask you, who do you trust so much that you are willing to rebel against me? ²¹ Are you depending on Egypt to help you? Egypt is like a broken walking stick. If you lean on it for support, it will only hurt you and make a hole in your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, cannot be trusted by anyone who depends on him for help. ²² Maybe you will say, “We trust the Lord our God to help us.” But I know that Hezekiah destroyed the altars and high places where people worshiped the Lord. Hezekiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship only at this one altar here in Jerusalem.”

²³ ‘If you still want to fight my master, the king of Assyria, I will make this agreement with you. I promise that I will give you 2000 horses if you can find enough men to ride them into battle. ²⁴ But even then you couldn’t beat one of my master’s lowest ranking officers. So why do you still depend on Egypt’s chariots and horse soldiers?

²⁵ ‘Now, do you think I came to this country to destroy it without the Lord’s help? No, the Lord said to me, “Go up against this country and destroy it!”’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the commander, “Please speak to us in Aramaic. We understand that language. Don’t speak to us in the language of Judah because the people on the wall will understand you.”

²⁷ But the commander said, “My master sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you and your master. I must also speak to those people sitting there on the wall. When we surround your city, they will suffer too. Like you, they will become so hungry they will eat their own waste and drink their own urine!”

²⁸ Then the commander, shouting loudly in Hebrew,^[f] gave this warning to them all:

Hear this message from the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah fool you! He cannot save you from my power. ³⁰ Don’t listen to him when he tells you to trust in the Lord. Don’t believe him when he says, “The Lord will save us. He will not let the king of Assyria defeat the city.”

³¹ Don’t listen to Hezekiah! This is what the king of Assyria says: Come out here and show me that you want peace. Then you will all be free to have grapes from your own vines, figs from your own trees, and water from your own well. ³² After some time, I will come and take you to a land like your own. In that new land, you will have plenty of grain for making bread and vineyards for producing wine. I am offering you a choice to live instead of dying.

Don’t believe Hezekiah when he tells you, “The Lord will save us.” He is wrong. ³³ Did any of the gods of other nations save their land from the king of Assyria? ³⁴ When I destroyed the cities of Hamath and Arpad, where were their gods? What about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Were any gods able to save Samaria from my power? ³⁵ None of the gods of these other places were able to save their land from me! So why do you think the Lord can save Jerusalem from me?

³⁶ But the people were silent. They did not say a word to the commander, because King Hezekiah had commanded them, “Don’t say anything to him.”

³⁷ Then the palace manager (Eliakim son of Hilkiah), the royal secretary (Shebna), and the record keeper (Joah son of Asaph) went to Hezekiah. Their clothes were torn to show they were upset. They told Hezekiah everything the Assyrian commander had said.

Hezekiah Talks With Isaiah the Prophet

19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes to show he was upset. Then he put on sackcloth and went to the Lord’s Temple.

² Hezekiah sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna the royal secretary, and the elders of the priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They wore the special clothes that showed they were sad and upset. ³ They said to Isaiah, “King Hezekiah has commanded that today will be a special day for sorrow and sadness. It will be a very sad day, like the time a child should be born, but is not strong enough to come from its mother’s womb. ⁴ The commander’s master, the king of Assyria, has sent him to say bad things about the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear all those things and answer them. Maybe the Lord your God will show how wrong the enemy is! So pray for the people who are still left alive.”

⁵ King Hezekiah’s officers went to Isaiah. ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Give this message to your master, Hezekiah: The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid of what you heard from the commanders. Don’t believe what those “boys” from the king of Assyria said to make fun of me. ⁷ Look, I will send a spirit against the king of Assyria. He will get a report warning him about a danger, so he will return to his own country. And I will cut him down with a sword in his own country.’”

The Assyrian Army Leaves Jerusalem

⁸ The commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. He found him at Libnah, fighting against that city. ⁹ Then the king of Assyria heard a report that said, “Tirhakah,^[g] the king of Ethiopia, has come to fight against you.”

So the king of Assyria sent messengers to Hezekiah again. ¹⁰ He told them, “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah these things:

‘Don’t be fooled by the god you trust when he says Jerusalem will not be defeated by the king of Assyria. ¹¹ You have heard what the kings of Assyria did to all the other countries. We completely destroyed them! Will you be saved? No! ¹² Did the gods of those nations save their people? No, my ancestors destroyed them all. They destroyed Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden living in Tel Assar. ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath? The king of Arpad? The king of the city of Sepharvaim? The kings of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah Prays to the Lord

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letters from the messengers and read them. Then he went up to the Lord’s Temple and laid the letters out in front of the Lord. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “Lord, God of Israel, you sit as King above the Cherub angels. You alone are the God who rules all the kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Lord, please listen to me. Lord, open your eyes and look at this message. Hear the words that Sennacherib sent to insult the living God. ¹⁷ It is true, Lord. The kings of Assyria did destroy all those nations. ¹⁸ They did throw the gods of those nations into the fire. But they were not real gods. They were only wood and stone—statues that people made. That is why the kings of Assyria could destroy them. ¹⁹ But you are the Lord our God, so please save us from the king of Assyria. Then all the other nations will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

God Answers Hezekiah

²⁰ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah. Isaiah said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: You prayed to me about the message that came from King Sennacherib of Assyria. I have heard you.

²¹ “This is the Lord’s message against Sennacherib:

The Lord’s Message for Hezekiah

²⁹ Then the Lord said, “I will give you a sign to show that these words are true. You were not able to plant seeds this year, so next year you will eat grain that grows wild from the previous year’s crop. But in the third year, you will eat grain from seeds that you planted. You will harvest your crops and have plenty to eat. You will plant grapevines and eat their fruit. You will plant vineyards and eat the grapes from them. ³⁰ The people from the family of Judah who have escaped and are left alive will be like plants that send their roots deep into the ground and produce fruit above the ground. ³¹ That is because a few people will come out of Jerusalem alive. There will be survivors coming from Mount Zion. The strong love^[i] of the Lord All-Powerful will do this.

³² “So the Lord says this about the king of Assyria:

The Assyrian Army Is Destroyed

³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 people in the Assyrian camp. When the others got up in the morning, they saw all the dead bodies.

³⁶ So King Sennacherib of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh where he stayed. ³⁷ One day Sennacherib was in the temple of his god Nisroch, worshiping him. His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword and ran away to Ararat. So his son Esarhaddon became the new king of Assyria.

Hezekiah’s Illness

20 At that time Hezekiah became sick and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and told him, “The Lord says, ‘You will die soon, so you should tell your family what they should do when you die. You will not get well.’”

² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall that faced the Temple and began praying to the Lord. ³ “Lord, remember that I have sincerely served you with all my heart. I have done what you say is good.” Then Hezekiah cried very hard.

⁴ Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, he received this message from the Lord, ⁵ “Go back and speak to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I heard your prayer and I saw your tears, so I will heal you. On the third day you will go up to the Temple of the Lord. ⁶ I will add 15 years to your life. I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will protect this city. I will do this for myself and because of the promise I made to my servant David.’”

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Crush figs together and put them on your sore; you will get well.”

So they took the mixture of figs and put it on Hezekiah’s sore place, and he got well.

⁸ Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the Temple of the Lord on the third day?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “Which do you want? Should the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?^[j] This is the sign for you from the Lord to show that the Lord will do what he said he would do.”

¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten steps. No, make the shadow go back ten steps.”

¹¹ Then Isaiah prayed, and the Lord made the shadow move back ten steps. It went back up the steps that it had already been on.

Messengers From Babylon

¹² At that time Merodach Baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah when he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah listened to the messengers and then showed them all the valuable things he owned. He showed them the silver, the gold, the spices, the expensive perfume, and the building where he stored the weapons. He showed them everything in his treasuries, in his palace, and in his kingdom.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “These men came from a faraway country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ Isaiah said, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah answered, “They saw everything I own. I showed them all my wealth.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord. ¹⁷ The time is coming when everything in your palace and everything your ancestors have saved until today will be carried away to Babylon. Nothing will be left! The Lord said this. ¹⁸ The Babylonians will take your sons, and your sons will become officers^[k] in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah told Isaiah, “This message from the Lord is good.” (Hezekiah said this because he thought, “There will be real peace and security during my lifetime.”)

²⁰ All the great things that Hezekiah did, including his work on the pool and the aqueduct to bring water into the city, are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah. ²¹ Hezekiah died and was buried with his ancestors. And his son Manasseh became the new king after him.

Manasseh Begins His Evil Rule Over Judah

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to rule. He ruled 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

² Manasseh did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the terrible things the other nations did. (And the Lord forced those nations to leave their country when the Israelites came.) ³ Manasseh rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He also built altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh worshiped and served the stars of heaven. ⁴ He built altars to honor false gods in the Lord’s Temple. (This is the place the Lord was talking about when he said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”) ⁵ Manasseh built altars for the stars of heaven in the two courtyards of the Lord’s Temple. ⁶ He sacrificed his own son and burned him on the altar.^[l] He used different ways of trying to know the future. He visited mediums and wizards.

Manasseh did more and more things that the Lord saw as evil, which made the Lord angry. ⁷ Manasseh made a carved statue of Asherah. He put this statue in the Temple. The Lord had said to David and to David’s son Solomon about this Temple: “I have chosen Jerusalem from all the cities in Israel. I will put my name in the Temple in Jerusalem forever. ⁸ I will not cause the Israelites to leave the land that I gave to their ancestors. I will let the people stay in their land if they obey everything I commanded them and all the teachings that my servant Moses gave them.” ⁹ But the people did not listen to God. Manasseh did more evil things than all the nations that lived in Canaan before Israel came. And the Lord destroyed those nations when the Israelites came to take their land.

¹⁰ The Lord used his servants the prophets to say this: ¹¹ “King Manasseh of Judah has done these hated things and has done more evil than the Amorites before him. He also has caused Judah to sin because of his idols. ¹² So the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Look! I will bring so much trouble against Jerusalem and Judah that anyone who hears about it will be shocked.^{[m] 13} I will stretch the measuring line of Samaria^[n] and the plumb line^[o] of Ahab’s family over Jerusalem. A man wipes a dish, and then he turns it upside down. I will do that to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ There will still be a few of my people left, but I will leave them. I will give them to their enemies. Their enemies will take them as prisoners—they will be like the valuable things soldiers take in war. ¹⁵ This is because my people did what I said was wrong. They have made me angry with them since the day their ancestors came up out of Egypt. ¹⁶ And Manasseh killed many innocent people. He filled Jerusalem from one end to another with blood. And all these sins are in addition to the sins that caused Judah to sin. Manasseh caused Judah to do what the Lord said was wrong.’”

¹⁷ All the things that Manasseh did, including the sins that he committed, are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah. ¹⁸ Manasseh died and was buried with his ancestors. He was buried in the garden at his house. It was called the “Garden of Uzza.” His son Amon became the new king after him.

Amon’s Short Rule

¹⁹ Amon was 22 years old when he began to rule. He ruled two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.

²⁰ Amon did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ Amon lived just as his father had lived. He worshiped and served the same idols his father had worshiped. ²² Amon left the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not live the way the Lord wanted.

²³ Amon’s servants made plans against him and killed him in his palace. ²⁴ The common people killed all the officers who made plans against King Amon. Then the people made Amon’s son Josiah the new king after him.

²⁵ The other things that Amon did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah. ²⁶ Amon was buried in his grave at the Garden of Uzza. His son Josiah became the new king.

Josiah Begins His Rule Over Judah

22 Josiah was eight years old when he began to rule. He ruled 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² Josiah did what the Lord said was right. He followed God like his ancestor David. Josiah obeyed God’s teachings—he did exactly what God wanted.

Josiah Orders the Temple Repaired

³ During the 18th year that Josiah was king, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the Lord’s Temple. Josiah said, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest. Tell him that he must get the money that people brought to the Lord’s Temple. The gatekeepers collected that money from the people. ⁵ The priests must use that money to pay the workers to repair the Lord’s Temple. They must give that money to the men who supervise the work on the Lord’s Temple. ⁶ Use that money for the carpenters, stonemasons, and stonecutters. Also use that money to buy the timber and cut stones that are needed to repair the Temple. ⁷ Don’t count the money that you give to the workers. They can be trusted.”

Book of the Law Found in the Temple

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “Look, I found the Book of the Law^[p] in the Lord’s Temple!” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and Shaphan read it.

⁹ He went to King Josiah and told him what happened. Shaphan said, “Your servants have gathered all the money that was in the Temple. They gave it to the men who supervise the work on the Lord’s Temple.” ¹⁰ Then he told the king, “And Hilkiah the priest also gave this book to me.” Then Shaphan read the book to the king.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes to show he was sad and upset. ¹² Then he gave a command to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant. ¹³ King Josiah said, “Go and ask the Lord what we should do. Ask for me, for the people, and for all Judah. Ask about the words of this book that was found. The Lord is angry with us, because our ancestors did not listen to the words of this book. They did not obey all the commands that were written for us.”

Josiah and Huldah the Prophetess

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the woman prophet. Huldah was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas. He took care of the priests’ clothes. Huldah was living in the second quarter in Jerusalem. They went and talked with Huldah.

¹⁵ Then Huldah said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me: ¹⁶ ‘The Lord says this: I am bringing trouble on this place and on the people who live here. These are the troubles that are mentioned in the book that the king of Judah read. ¹⁷ The people of Judah have left me and have burned incense to other gods. They made me very angry. They made many idols. That is why I will show my anger against this place. My anger will be like a fire that cannot be stopped!’

^18-19 “King Josiah of Judah sent you to ask advice from the Lord. Tell Josiah that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘You heard the words I spoke against this place and those who live here. And when you heard those things, your heart was soft, and you showed your sorrow before the Lord. I said that terrible things would happen to this place. So you tore your clothes to show your sadness, and you began to cry. That is why I heard you.’ This is what the Lord says. ²⁰ ‘I will bring you to be with your ancestors. You will die and go to your grave in peace. So your eyes will not see all the trouble that I am bringing on this place.’”

Then Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah gave that message to the king.

The People Hear the Law

23 King Josiah told all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to come and meet with him. ² Then the king went up to the Lord’s Temple. All the people of Judah and the people who lived in Jerusalem went with him. The priests, the prophets, and all the people—from the least important to the most important—went with him. Then he read the Book of the Agreement. This was the Book of the Law that was found in the Lord’s Temple. Josiah read the book so that all the people could hear it.

³ The king stood by the column and made an agreement with the Lord. He promised to follow the Lord and to obey his commands, the laws, and his rules. He promised to do this with all his heart and soul. He promised to obey the agreement written in this book. All the people stood to show that they promised to follow the agreement.

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the other priests, and the gatekeepers to bring out of the Lord’s Temple all the dishes and things that were made to honor Baal, Asherah, and the stars of heaven. Then Josiah burned those things outside Jerusalem in the fields in Kidron Valley. Then they carried the ashes to Bethel.

⁵ The kings of Judah had chosen some ordinary men to serve as priests. These false priests were burning incense at the high places in every city of Judah and all the towns around Jerusalem. They burned incense to honor Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky. But Josiah stopped those false priests.

⁶ Josiah removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s Temple. He took the Asherah pole outside the city to the Kidron Valley and burned it there. Then he beat the burned pieces into dust and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.^[q]

⁷ Then King Josiah broke down the houses of the male prostitutes who were in the Lord’s Temple. Women also used these houses and made little tent covers to honor the false goddess Asherah.

^8-9 At that time the priests did not bring the sacrifices to Jerusalem and offer them on the Lord’s altar in the Temple. The priests lived in cities all over Judah. They burned incense and offered sacrifices at the high places in those cities. The high places were everywhere, from Geba to Beersheba. And the priests ate their unleavened bread in those towns with the ordinary people—not at the special place for priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. But King Josiah ruined the high places and brought the priests to Jerusalem. Josiah also destroyed the high places that were on the left side of the city gate, by the Gate of Joshua. (Joshua was the ruler of the city.)

¹⁰ Topheth was a place in the Valley of Hinnom’s Son where people killed their children and burned them on an altar to honor the false god Molech.^[r] Josiah ruined that place so that no one could use it again. ¹¹ In the past the kings of Judah had put some horses and a chariot near the entrance to the Lord’s Temple. This was near the room of an important official named Nathan Melech. The horses and chariot were to honor the sun god.^[s] Josiah removed the horses and burned the chariot.

¹² In the past the kings of Judah had built altars on the roof of Ahab’s building. King Manasseh had also built altars in the two courtyards of the Lord’s Temple. Josiah destroyed all the altars and threw the broken pieces into the Kidron Valley.

¹³ In the past King Solomon built some high places on Destroyer Hill near Jerusalem. The high places were on the south side of that hill. King Solomon built one of these places of worship to honor Ashtoreth, that horrible thing the people of Sidon worship. He also built one to honor Chemosh, that horrible thing the Moabites worship. And King Solomon built one high place to honor Milcom, that horrible thing the Ammonites worship. But King Josiah ruined all these places of worship. ¹⁴ He broke all the memorial stones and Asherah poles. Then he scattered dead men’s bones over that place.^[t]

¹⁵ Josiah also broke down the altar and high place at Bethel. Jeroboam son of Nebat had made this altar. Jeroboam caused Israel to sin.^[u] Josiah broke down both that altar and the high place. He broke the stones of the altar to pieces. Then he beat it into dust and he burned the Asherah pole. ¹⁶ Josiah looked around and saw graves on the mountain. He sent men, and they took the bones from the graves. Then he burned the bones on the altar. In this way Josiah ruined the altar. This happened according to the message from the Lord that the man of God announced.^[v] The man of God announced these things when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the feast.

Then Josiah looked around and saw the grave of the man of God.^[w]

¹⁷ Josiah said, “What is that monument I see?”

The people of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. This man of God told about the things you have done to the altar at Bethel. He said them a long time ago.”

¹⁸ Josiah said, “Leave the man of God alone. Don’t move his bones.” So they left his bones and the bones of the man of God from Samaria.

¹⁹ Josiah also destroyed all the temples at the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built those temples, which had made the Lord very angry. Josiah destroyed them, just as he had destroyed the place of worship at Bethel.

²⁰ Josiah killed all the priests of the high places that were in Samaria. He killed the priests on those altars and burned men’s bones on the altars so that they could never be used again. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

The People of Judah Celebrate Passover

²¹ Then King Josiah gave a command to all the people. He said, “Celebrate the Passover for the Lord your God. Do this just as it is written in the Book of the Agreement.”

²² The people had not celebrated a Passover like this since the days when the judges ruled Israel. None of the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah ever had such a big celebration for Passover. ²³ They celebrated this Passover for the Lord in Jerusalem during Josiah’s 18th year as king.

²⁴ Josiah destroyed the mediums, wizards, the house gods, the idols, and all the horrible things people worshiped in Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to obey the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord’s Temple.

²⁵ There had never been a king like Josiah before. Josiah turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength.^[x] No king had followed all the Law of Moses like Josiah. And there has never been another king like Josiah since that time.

²⁶ But the Lord did not stop being angry with the people of Judah. He was still angry with them for everything that Manasseh had done. ²⁷ The Lord said, “I forced the Israelites to leave their land. I will do the same to Judah. I will take Judah out of my sight. I will not accept Jerusalem. Yes, I chose that city. I was talking about Jerusalem when I said, ‘My name will be there.’ But I will destroy the Temple that is in that place.”

²⁸ All the other things that Josiah did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah.

The Death of Josiah

²⁹ While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, went to fight against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. Josiah went out to meet Neco at Megiddo. Pharaoh saw Josiah and killed him. ³⁰ Josiah’s officers put his body in a chariot and carried him from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his own grave.

Then the common people took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and anointed him. They made Jehoahaz the new king.

Jehoahaz Becomes King of Judah

³¹ Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² Jehoahaz did what the Lord said was wrong. He did all the same things that his ancestors had done.

³³ Pharaoh Neco put Jehoahaz in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Pharaoh Neco forced Judah to pay 7500 pounds^[y] of silver and 75 pounds^[z] of gold.

³⁴ Pharaoh Neco made Josiah’s son Eliakim the new king. Eliakim took the place of Josiah his father. Pharaoh Neco changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh Neco took Jehoahaz away to Egypt where he died. ³⁵ Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh. But Jehoiakim made the common people pay taxes and used that money to give to Pharaoh Neco. So everyone paid their share of silver and gold, and King Jehoiakim gave the money to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶ Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷ Jehoiakim did what the Lord said was wrong. He did all the same things his ancestors had done.