Beginning

Josiah’s Covenantal Reforms

23 So the king sent word, and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him. ² Then the king went up to the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were with him, including the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their hearing^[a] he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh. ³ Then the king stood by the pillar, and he made^[b] a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of his heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people joined^[c] in the covenant.

⁴ Then the king^[d] commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. ⁶ He brought out the Asherah image from the temple of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the Wadi of the Kidron and burnt it there;^[e] then he pulverized it to dust and threw its dust upon the tombs of the children of the people. ⁷ He tore down the shrines of the male shrine prostitutes which were in the temple of Yahweh, where the women were weaving shrines for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests from Geba up to Beersheba burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on the left of each gate of the city. ⁹ However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their relatives. ¹⁰ He defiled the Topheth which is in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, to prevent^[f] anyone causing his sons or his daughters to pass through the fire for Molech. ¹¹ He kept the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from coming to the temple of Yawheh at the side room of Nathan-Melech the eunuch, which was in the court; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire. ¹² The altars which were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron. ¹³ The high places which were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mountain of Destruction which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the detestable thing of the Ammonites,^[g] the king defiled. ¹⁴ He also broke into pieces the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah poles and covered their sites with human bones.

¹⁵ Moreover, the altar which was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, had built, even that altar and the high place, Josiah tore down. Then he burned down the high place and crushed the pole of Asherah worship to dust and burned it with fire. ¹⁶ When Josiah turned and saw the tombs which were there on the hill, he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar. Thus he defiled them according to the word of Yahweh that the man of God had proclaimed who had proclaimed these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is this gravestone that I am seeing?” The men of the city said to him, “This is 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 So Josiah said, “Let him rest and let no man move his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. ¹⁹ Moreover, all of the shrines of the high places which were in the towns of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Yahweh, Josiah removed, and he did to them like all of the deeds he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ Then he slaughtered all of the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and he burned the bones of the humans on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Renewed

²¹ Then the king commanded all of the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as has been written on the scroll of this covenant.” ²² For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel or^[h] during the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept for Yahweh in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the temple of Yahweh. ²⁵ There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to the law^[i] of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards.

²⁶ However, Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great anger which was kindled against Judah because of all of the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ Yahweh had said, “Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I have removed Israel; I will reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there’!”

²⁸ The remainder of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ²⁹ In his days, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to meet him, and he^[j] killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. ³⁰ So his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Judah

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all his ancestors^[k] had done. ³³ Then Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and imposed a levy on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Jehoiakim Replaces Jehoahaz

³⁴ Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. ³⁵ The silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh; however, he taxed the land to give the silver to meet the demands of Pharaoh.^[l] Each according to assessment, he exacted payment of the silver and the gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebudah,^[m] the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his ancestors^[n] had done.

First Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; Jehoiakim Submits

24 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up because Jehoiakim had become his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. ² So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the Ammonites.^[o] He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets. ³ Surely, it was on the command^[p] of Yahweh against Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done. ⁴ Also, for the blood of the innocent that he had shed—and he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood—Yahweh was not willing to forgive. ⁵ The remainder of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors,^[q] and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. ⁷ The king of Egypt did not again come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken territory from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoichin Succeeds Jehoiakim

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done.

Second Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar

¹⁰ At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and the city came under the siege. ¹¹ Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it. ¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold. ¹⁴ He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, ten thousand of the skilled warriors, and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land. ¹⁵ He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ¹⁶ of all of the skilled men, seven thousand, and of the skilled craftsmen and the artisans, one thousand. All of the mighty warriors fit for war^[r] the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. ¹⁷ Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Replaces Jehoiachin

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh just like all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ For it happened because of the anger of Yahweh, in Jerusalem and in Judah, until they were cast out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Final Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar

25 It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. ² So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of the king. ³ In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ Then the city was breached, and all of the men of war entered by night by way of the gate between the wall which was by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans were against the city all around, so he^[s] left by the way of the Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the Arabah of Jericho, and all of his army scattered from him. ⁶ So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.^{[t] 7} They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Is Sacked and the Temple Burned

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a commander of the imperial guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire. ¹⁰ He and all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the imperial guard tore down the wall of Jerusalem all around. ¹¹ The remainder of the people left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard deported.

¹² But the poor of the land the commander of the imperial guard left for the vineyards and for tilling.

Plunder Taken by the Chaldeans

¹³ The bronze pillars which were in the temple^[u] of Yahweh, the water carts, and the bronze sea that was in the temple of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes, and the vessels of bronze with which they served there, they took. ¹⁵ The firepans and the basins, whatever was gold, the commander of the imperial guard took for the gold and whatever was silver, for the silver. ¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the water cart which Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh, there was no weighing to the bronze of all of these vessels. ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; a bronze capital was on it, with the height of the capital being three cubits. The latticework and pomegranates on the capital all around were bronze, and likewise on the latticework for the second pillar.

¹⁸ Then the commander of the imperial guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and three of the threshold keepers. ¹⁹ From the city he took one court official who was chief officer over the men of war, five men from the king’s council^[v] who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land being found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath; thus Judah was removed from its land.

Gedaliah Appointed Governor

²² Now as far as the people left in Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left behind, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them. ²³ When all of the commanders of the troops heard, they and the men, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seriah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and he said to them, “You must not be afraid because of the Chaldeans. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and may it go well with you.” ²⁵ But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama from the offspring of the kingship came, and ten men with him, and they struck down Gedaliah so that he died with the Judeans and with the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, from youngest to oldest, and the commanders of the troops, went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans.

Elderly Jehoiachin Cared for in Babylon

²⁷ It happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month on the twenty-seventh of the month, lifted Evil-Merodach king of Babylon in the year that he became king, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from the house of imprisonment. ²⁸ He spoke kindly^[w] to him, and he gave him a better seat than the seat of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So he changed the clothes of his imprisonment, and he ate food continually in his presence all the days of his life. ³⁰ His allowance was continually given to him from the king, a portion every day^[x] all the days of his life.