Beginning
23 Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem to him.
2 And the king went up into the House of the LORD, with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and Prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the House of the LORD.
3 And the king stood by the pillar and made a Covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD, and keep His Commandments, and His Testimonies, and His Statutes, with all their heart and with all their soul, so that they might carry out the Words of this Covenant written in this Book. And all the people established the Covenant.
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the High Priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the Door, to bring all the vessels that were made for Baal (and for the grove and for all the host of heaven) out of the Temple of the LORD. And he burnt them outside Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes into Bethel.
5 And he took down the Chemarim, whom the kings of Judah had made to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and also those that burnt incense to Baal (to the Sun and to the Moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven).
6 And he brought out the grove from the Temple of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the valley of Kidron, and burnt it in the valley Kidron and stamped it to powder and cast its dust upon the graves of the children of the people.
7 And he broke down the houses of the Sodomites who were in the House of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 Also, he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and destroyed the high places of the gates that were in the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which was on the left side of the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the Altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, except only when they ate of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 He also defiled Topheth, which was in the valley of the children of Hinnom, so that no man would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
11 He also took down the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the Sun at the entrance of the House of the LORD, by the chamber of Nethan-Melech the eunuch (who was ruler of the suburbs) and burnt the chariots of the Sun with fire,
12 and the altars that were on the top of the chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made. And the king broke down the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the House of the LORD and quickly went from there and cast the dust of them in the brook Kidron.
13 Moreover, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, and on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption (which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the idol of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the idol of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon).
14 And he broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel (the high place made by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin), both this altar and also the high place, he broke down and burnt (the high place). He stamped them to powder and burnt the grove.
16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were on the mountain, and sent and took the bones out of the graves and burnt them upon the altar and polluted it, according to the Word of the LORD that the man of God had proclaimed, who cried the same words.
17 Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” And the men of the city said to him, “It is the sepulcher of the man of God, who came from Judah and told these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”
18 Then he said, “Let him alone. Let no one remove his bones.” So his bones were saved with the bones of the Prophet who came from Samaria.
19 Josiah also took away all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to anger the LORD. And he did to them just as he had done in Bethel.
20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there upon the altars, and burnt men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the Book of this Covenant.”
22 And there was no Passover like that held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah.
23 And in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah also took away the mediums and the soothsayers and the images and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, to perform the Words of the Law which were written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the LORD.
25 There was no king like him before, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses. Nor did there ever arise any like him after.
26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which He was angry against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
27 Therefore the LORD said, “I will also put Judah out of My sight, as I have put away Israel, and will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the House of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”
28 Concerning 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 In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria, to the river Perath. And King Josiah went against him. And when Pharaoh saw him, he killed him at Megiddo.
30 Then his servants carried his body from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father’s place.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was 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 And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, while he reigned in Jerusalem, and put the land under a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34 And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king instead of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away, who when he came to Egypt, died there.
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh and taxed the land to give the money, according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He levied silver and gold to give to Pharaoh Necho, from every man of the people of the land, according to his value.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. Also, 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.
24 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up. And Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Afterward, he turned and rebelled against him.
2 And the LORD sent bands of the Chaldeans against him, and bands of the Aramites, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites. And he sent them against Judah, to destroy it, according to the Word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servants, the Prophets.
3 Surely by the Commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, so that He might put them out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,
4 and for the innocent blood that he shed (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood). Therefore, the LORD would not pardon it.
5 Concerning 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 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers. And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his place.
7 And the king of Egypt no longer came out of his land. For the king of Babylon had captured all that pertained to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Perath.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign and reigned in Jerusalem for three months. Also, 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 In that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem. So the city was besieged.
11 And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city. And his servants besieged it.
12 Then Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, came out against the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his eunuchs. And the king of Babylon took him, in the eighth year of his reign.
13 And he carried away all the treasures of the House of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and broke all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the Temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
14 And he carried away all of Jerusalem and all the princes and all the strong men of war (ten thousand into captivity) and all the workmen and cunning men. So no one remained except the poor people of the land.
15 And he carried Jehoiachin away into Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his eunuchs. And he carried away the mighty of the land into captivity—from Jerusalem to Babylon—
16 and all the men of war (seven thousand) and carpenters and locksmiths (a thousand). All who were strong and apt for war the king of Babylon brought to Babylon as captives.
17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. Also, his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
19 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD was certainly against Jerusalem and Judah, until He cast them out of His sight. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
25 And in the ninth year of his reign, the tenth month, tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, came against Jerusalem, and camped 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 And on the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
4 Then the city was broken up. And all the men of war fled by night, by way of the gate between two walls that was by the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were by the city, all around. And the king went by way of the wilderness.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and took him in the deserts of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him.
6 Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah, where they gave judgment upon him.
7 And they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, chief steward and servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem
9 and burnt the House of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. And he burnt all the great houses with fire.
10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief steward, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, all around.
11 And the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who had fled and fallen to the king of Babylon with the remnant of the multitude, chief steward Nebuzaradan carried away captive.
12 But the chief steward left of the poor of the land to dress the vines, and to till the land.
13 Also, the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the House of the LORD, and the bases, and the bronze sea that was in the House of the LORD and carried the bronze from them to Babylon.
14 They also took away the pots and the shovels and the instruments of music and the incense dishes and all the vessels of bronze in which they ministered.
15 And the chief steward took away the ash pans and the basins, that were of gold and silver,
16 with the two pillars, one sea and the bases, which Solomon had made for the House of the LORD. The bronze from all these vessels was without weight.
17 The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And its chapiter was bronze. And the height of the chapiter (with network) was three cubits, with pomegranates upon the chapiters, all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was the same, with the network.
18 And the chief steward took Seraiah, the High Priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the Door.
19 And he took a eunuch out of the city, who had the oversight of the men of war, and five of the men from the city who were in the king’s presence, and Sopher (captain 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 And Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Riblah.
21 And the king of Babylon struck them and killed them at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. So, Judah was carried away captive, out of his own land.
22 However, people remained in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left alone. And he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler over them.
23 Then, when all the captains of the army and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah, to Mizpah. They were: Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and Johanan, the son of Careah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them, and to their men, and said to them, “Do not fear to be the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and you shall be well.”
25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the king’s seed, came, and ten men with him. And he struck Gedaliah and he died, and so did he the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the army, arose and came to Egypt. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 Nevertheless, in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, was carried away, in the twelfth month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of the prison
28 and spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon
29 and changed his prison garments. And he continually ate bread before him, all the days of his life.
30 And his portion was a continual portion, given to him by the king, every day a certain amount, all the days of his life.
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