Old/New Testament

Josiah Rules Judah

34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. And he ruled thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³ For in the eighth year of his rule while he was still young, he began to look for the God of his father David. In the twelfth year he began to take the sinful things out of Judah and Jerusalem. He took away the high places, the objects of the false goddess Asherah, and all the objects made to look like gods. ⁴ They tore down the altars of the false gods of Baal in front of him. And he cut down the special perfume altars which stood above them. He broke in pieces the objects of the false goddess Asherah and all the objects made to look like gods. Then he ground them to dust and spread it on the graves of those who had given gifts in worship to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of their religious leaders on their altars, and made Judah and Jerusalem free from worshiping false gods. ⁶ And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in the broken down places around them, ⁷ Josiah tore down the altars and beat to dust the objects of Asherah and the objects made to look like gods. He cut down all the special perfume altars through all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

The Book of the Law Is Found

⁸ Now it was the eighteenth year of his rule, and Josiah had made the land and the Lord’s house free from worshiping false gods. At that time he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the leader of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, who wrote down the things that happened, to do the work needed on the house of the Lord his God. ⁹ They came to Hilkiah the head religious leader and gave him the money that was brought into the house of God. The Levites who watched the door had received this money from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all those who were left of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then they gave the money to the workmen who watched over the work of the Lord’s house. And the workmen who were working in the Lord’s house used it to make the house like new. ¹¹ They gave the money to those who work with wood and to the builders to buy cut stone and wood for joints and building-pieces for the houses. The kings of Judah had not had the needed work done on them. ¹² And the men were faithful in doing the work. Watching over them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites. The Levites who were good at playing music ¹³ watched over those who carried loads and those who did work in every kind of duty. Some of the Levites were writers and leaders and gate-keepers.

¹⁴ When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the Lord’s house, Hilkiah the religious leader found the book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah told Shaphan the writer, “I have found the book of the Law in the Lord’s house.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ Then Shaphan brought the book to the king, and said to him, “Your servants are doing all the work that they have been given to do. ¹⁷ They have taken all the money that was found in the Lord’s house and have given it to the leaders and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the writer said to the king, “Hilkiah the religious leader gave me a book.” And Shaphan read it in front of the king. ¹⁹ When King Josiah heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. ²⁰ Then the king called Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the writer, and Asaiah the king’s servant. He told them, ²¹ “Go, ask the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, about the words of the book which have been found. For much of the Lord’s anger has been poured out on us because our fathers have not obeyed the Word of the Lord. They have not done all that is written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the woman who spoke for God. She was the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, who watched over the clothing. (She lived in Jerusalem in the second part of the city.) They spoke to her about this. ²³ And she said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me ²⁴ what I say. See, I am bringing much trouble to this place and to its people. I am allowing all the curses to come which are written in the book they have read in front of the king of Judah. ²⁵ They have left Me and have burned special perfume to other gods, that they might make Me angry with all the work of their hands. So My anger will be poured out on this place, and it will not be stopped. ²⁶ But tell the king of Judah who sent you to the Lord, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words which you have heard: ²⁷ ‘Your heart was broken and you had no pride before God when you heard His words against this place and its people. And because you came before Me with no pride, tore your clothes, and cried before Me, I have heard you,’ says the Lord. ²⁸ ‘Your eyes will not see all the much trouble that I will bring on this place and its people. It will come after you die. You will be taken to your grave in peace.’”’” The men brought back this word to the king.

Josiah Brings Back True Worship

²⁹ Then the king sent and gathered together all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the religious leaders, the Levites, and all the people from the greatest to the least. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the agreement which was found in the Lord’s house. ³¹ Then the king stood in his place and made an agreement before the Lord. He agreed to follow the Lord, to obey His Laws with all his heart and soul, and to do what is written in the agreement in this book. ³² And he made all who were there in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the people of Jerusalem promised to obey the agreement of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ Josiah took away all the hated false gods from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel. He made all who were in Israel worship the Lord their God. While Josiah was alive, they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

Josiah Keeps the Passover

35 Then Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He gave the religious leaders their duties and gave them strength to do the work of the Lord’s house. ³ And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy box of the agreement in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You do not need to carry it on your shoulders any longer. Now work for the Lord your God and His people Israel. ⁴ Make yourselves ready by your fathers’ houses in your groups, in the way that was written by King David of Israel and his son Solomon. ⁵ Stand in the holy place by the family groups of your brothers who are not religious leaders. And let some of the Levites help each family group of the people. ⁶ Now kill the Passover animals, and make yourselves holy. Make things ready for your brothers to obey the word of the Lord by Moses.”

⁷ Then Josiah gave flocks of lambs and young goats as Passover gifts for all the people who were there. He gave 30,000 of them, and 3,000 bulls. These were from the king’s animals. ⁸ His leaders also gave a free-will gift to the people, the religious leaders, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the leaders of the house of God, gave 2,600 animals from the flocks and 300 bulls to the religious leaders for the Passover gifts. ⁹ Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave 5,000 animals from the flocks and 500 bulls to the Levites for the Passover gifts.

¹⁰ So everything was made ready for the Passover. The religious leaders stood in their places, and the Levites stood by their groups, as the king had told them. ¹¹ Then they killed the Passover animals. The religious leaders took the blood from them and put it on the altar. And the Levites cut the skins from the animals. ¹² They set aside the burnt gifts that they might give them to the family groups of the people, to give to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same thing with the bulls. ¹³ So they cooked the Passover animals on the fire as the Law said. They boiled the holy things in pots and deep dishes, and carried them in a hurry to all the people. ¹⁴ After this they made everything ready for themselves and for the religious leaders because the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron, were giving in worship the burnt gifts and the fat parts until night. So the Levites made things ready for themselves and for the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵ The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their places, as had been written by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s man of God. The men who were gate-keepers did not have to leave their duty, because their brothers the Levites made things ready for them.

¹⁶ All the work of the Lord was made ready that day to keep the Passover, and to give burnt gifts on the Lord’s altar, as King Josiah had said. ¹⁷ So the people of Israel who were there kept the Passover at that time. And they kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days. ¹⁸ There had not been kept a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the man of God. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah did with the religious leaders, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were there, and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s rule.

The End of Josiah’s Rule

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had made the house of the Lord ready, King Neco of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates. And Josiah went out to fight against him. ²¹ But Neco sent men to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has told me to hurry. Do not stand in the way of God Who is with me, or He will destroy you.” ²² But Josiah would not turn away from him. He made himself to look like someone else, so he could fight against him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the Plain of Megiddo. ²³ And the bowmen shot King Josiah. The king told his servants, “Take me away, for I am hurt.” ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the war-wagon and carried him in his second war-wagon, and brought him to Jerusalem. And there he died. He was buried in the graves of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem were filled with sorrow for Josiah. ²⁵ Then Jeremiah sang a song of sorrow for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their songs of sorrow to this day. They made them a law in Israel, and they are written in the Lamentations. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good works as written in the Law of the Lord, ²⁷ and his acts, first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Joahaz Rules Judah

36 Then the people of the land took Joahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem. ² Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king. And he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then the king of Egypt took Joahaz’s power away at Jerusalem, and made the people of the land pay a tax of silver weighing as much as 100 men, and gold weighing as much as one man. ⁴ The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakim’s brother Joahaz and brought him to Egypt.

Jehoiakim Rules Judah

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord his God. ⁶ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against him and tied him with brass chains to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the things of the Lord’s house to Babylon and put them in his place of worship there. ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the sinful things which he did, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

Jehoiachin Rules Judah

⁹ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁰ In the spring of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the objects of great worth from the Lord’s house. He made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah Rules Judah

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord his God. He had much pride in front of Jeremiah the man of God who spoke for the Lord. ¹³ And he turned against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him make a promise by God. He was strong-willed and made his heart hard against turning to the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁴ Also none of the rulers of the religious leaders and people were faithful. They followed all the sinful things of the nations. And they brought sinful things into the Lord’s house, which the Lord had made holy in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Is Taken

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent men to speak for Him again and again, because He had loving-pity on His people and on His house. ¹⁶ But the people always made fun of the men sent by God. They hated God’s words and laughed at His men who spoke for God, until the Lord was very angry with His people. And there was no way for things to be better. ¹⁷ So God brought the king of the Babylonians against them, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of God. He had no pity on anyone, young or old, men or women or the sick. He gave them all into the king’s hand. ¹⁸ And he brought to Babylon all the things of the house of God, great and small, and the riches of the Lord’s house, and the riches of the king and of his rulers. ¹⁹ Then they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all of its buildings built for battles, and destroyed all of its objects of great worth. ²⁰ He carried away to Babylon those who had not been killed by the sword. They were made to work for him and his sons until the rule of the nation of Persia. ²¹ This was done so the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah came true. For the seventy years that the land was not being used, the Day of Rest was kept. So the Days of Rest were enjoyed that had not been kept before.

Cyrus Tells the Jews to Return

²² The Lord’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah came true in this way also: In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord caused the spirit of King Cyrus to send word to all his nation, and also to write it down, saying, ²³ “King Cyrus of Persia says, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the nations of the earth. He has chosen me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.’”

The Crown of Thorns ^(A)

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him beaten. ² The soldiers put a crown of thorns on His head. They put a purple coat on Him. ³ Then they said, “Hello, King of the Jews!” and hit Him with their hands.

⁴ Pilate went out again and said to the people, “See, I bring Him out to you so you will know I do not find Him guilty.” ⁵ Jesus came out. He had on the crown of thorns and a purple coat. Pilate said to the people, “See! This is the Man!”

Pilate Tries to Let Jesus Go Free

⁶ The religious leaders and the soldiers saw Him. They spoke with loud voices, “Nail Him to a cross! Nail Him to a cross!” Pilate said, “Take Him yourselves and nail Him to a cross. As for me, I do not find Him guilty.” ⁷ The Jews said to Pilate, “We have a Law that says He should die because He has said He is the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard them say this, he was more afraid. ⁹ He went into the court room again. He said to Jesus, “Where do You come from?” Jesus did not say a word. ¹⁰ Pilate said, “Will You not speak to me? Do You not know that I have the right and the power to nail You to a cross? I have the right and the power to let You go free also.” ¹¹ Jesus said, “You would not have any right or power over Me if it were not given you from above. For this reason the one who handed Me over to you has the worse sin.”

¹² When Pilate heard this, he wanted to let Jesus go free. But the Jews kept saying, “If you let this Man go free, you are not a friend of Caesar! Whoever makes himself as a king is working against Caesar.” ¹³ When Pilate heard this, he had Jesus brought in front of him. Pilate sat down at the place where men stand in front of him if they are thought to be guilty. The place is called the Stone Floor.

¹⁴ It was the day to get ready for the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. It was about noon. Pilate said to the Jews, “See, your King!” ¹⁵ They spoke with a loud voice, “Take Him away! Nail Him to a cross!” Pilate said to them, “Do you want me to nail your King to a cross?” The head religious leaders said, “We have no king but Caesar!” ¹⁶ Then Pilate handed Him over to be nailed to a cross. They took Jesus and led Him away.

Jesus on the Cross ^(B)

¹⁷ Jesus carried His own cross to a hill called the Place of the Skull. ¹⁸ There they nailed Him to the cross. With Him were two others. There was one on each side of Jesus. ¹⁹ Then Pilate put a writing on the cross which said, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰ This was read by many of the Jews. The place where Jesus was nailed to the cross was near the city. The writing was written in the Hebrew and the Latin and the Greek languages. ²¹ Then the head religious leaders of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’! Write, ‘He said, I am the King of the Jews.’” ²² Pilate said, “What I have written is to stay just as it is!”