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2 Kings 21 |
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Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Hephzibah.
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the
abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the
children of Israel.
For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had
destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah,
as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the army of the
sky, and served them.
He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, “I
will put my name in Jerusalem.”
He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of
the house of Yahweh.
He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery,
and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar
spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of
Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the
house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, “In
this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;
neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out
of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will
observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and
according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.”
But they didn’t listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that
which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed
before the children of Israel.
Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,
“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and
has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were
before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols;
therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I bring
such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both
his ears shall tingle.
I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the
plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man
wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them
into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a
spoil to all their enemies;
because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have
provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out
of Egypt, even to this day.’”
Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had
filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with
which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and
his sin that he sinned, aren’t they written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of
his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned
in his place.
Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did
Manasseh his father.
He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served
the idols that his father served, and worshiped them:
and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn’t walk
in the way of Yahweh.
The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to
death in his own house.
But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired
against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his
son king in his place.
Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren’t they
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his
son reigned in his place.
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2 Kings 22 |
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Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in
all the way of David his father, and didn’t turn aside to the
right hand or to the left.
It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king
sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the
scribe, to the house of Yahweh, saying,
“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money
which is brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers of
the threshold have gathered of the people.
Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the
oversight of the house of Yahweh; and let them give it to the
workmen who are in the house of Yahweh, to repair the breaches
of the house,
to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and
for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.
However there was no accounting made with them of the money that
was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.”
Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have
found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh.” Hilkiah
delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word
again, and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that
was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of
the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh.”
Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest
has delivered a book to me.” Shaphan read it before the king.
It happened, when the king had heard the words of the book of
the law, that he tore his clothes.
The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of
Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe,
and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
“Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all
Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for
great is the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us, because
our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do
according to all that which is written concerning us.”
So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and
Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the
son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now
she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked
with her.
She said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Tell
the man who sent you to me,
“Thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and
on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the
king of Judah has read.
Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other
gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of
their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this
place, and it shall not be quenched.’”
But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh,
thus you shall tell him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel:
‘Concerning the words which you have heard,
because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before
Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and
against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation
and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I
also have heard you,’ says Yahweh.
‘Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you
shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your
eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” They
brought back this message to the king.
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2 Kings 23 |
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The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah
and of Jerusalem.
The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of
Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the
priests, and the 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 was found in the house of Yahweh.
The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh,
to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his
testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and
all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that
were written in this book: and all the people stood to the
covenant.
The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of
the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring
forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made
for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky,
and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the
Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.
He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had
ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of
Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned
incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the
planets, and to all the army of the sky.
He brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside of
Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook
Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of
the common people.
He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the
house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and
defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense,
from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the
gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the
governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the
gate of the city.
Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to
the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread
among their brothers.
He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of
Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass
through the fire to Molech.
He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the
sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the room of
Nathan Melech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned
the chariots of the sun with fire.
The altars that 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 courts of the house of Yahweh, did the king
break down, and beat them down from there, and cast the
dust of them into the brook Kidron.
The high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the
right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king
of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the
Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for
Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king
defile.
He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and
filled their places with the bones of men.
Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made,
even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned
the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.
As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in
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
word of Yahweh which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed
these things.
Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?”
The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of
God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you
have done against the altar of Bethel.”
He said, “Let him be! Let no man move his bones.” So they let
his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of
Samaria.
All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities
of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke
Yahweh to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according
to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on
the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to
Jerusalem.
The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to
Yahweh your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”
Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the
judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of
Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover kept
to Yahweh in Jerusalem.
Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and
the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were
seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away,
that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in
the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Yahweh.
Like him was there no king before him, who turned to Yahweh with
all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might,
according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there
any like him.
Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his
great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah,
because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked
him.
Yahweh said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I
have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have
chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name
shall be there.’”
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t
they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah?
In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king
of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against
him; and Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo, when he had
seen him.
His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and
brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The
people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed
him, and made him king in his father’s place.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and
he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that his fathers had done.
Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath,
that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a
tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place
of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he
took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there.
Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed
the land to give the money according to the commandment of
Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the
land, of everyone according to his taxation, to give it to
Pharaoh Necoh.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that his fathers had done.
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2 Kings 24 |
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In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and
Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and
rebelled against him.
Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the
Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of
Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to
the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.
Surely at the commandment of Yahweh came this on Judah, to
remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh,
according to all that he did,
and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled
Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Yahweh would not pardon.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did,
aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings
of Judah?
So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son
reigned in his place.
The king of Egypt didn’t come again out of his land any more;
for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to
the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother’s name was
Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that his father had done.
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came
up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his
servants were besieging it;
and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of
Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes,
and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth
year of his reign.
He carried out there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh,
and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the
vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the
temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had said.
He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the
mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the
craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest sort
of the people of the land.
He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s mother,
and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the
land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and
the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and apt for war,
even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s
brother, king is his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to
all that Jehoiakim had done.
For through the anger of Yahweh did it happen in Jerusalem and
Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah
rebelled against the king of Babylon.
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2 Kings 25 |
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It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and
encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it.
So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was
severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of
the land.
Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war
fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls,
which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against
the city around it); and the king went by the way of the
Arabah.
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and
overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was
scattered from him.
Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of
Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment on him.
They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out
the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him
to Babylon.
Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which
was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king
of Babylon, to Jerusalem.
He burnt the house of Yahweh, and the king’s house; and all the
houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire.
All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain
of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
The residue of the people who were left in the city, and those
who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue
of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry
away captive.
But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to
work the vineyards and fields.
The pillars of brass that were in the house of Yahweh, and the
bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, did
the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to
Babylon.
The pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and
all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they
away.
The fire pans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold,
and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the
guard took away.
The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had
made for the house of Yahweh, the brass of all these vessels was
without weight.
The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital
of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three
cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it,
all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with
network.
The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and
Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the
threshold:
and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men
of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were
found in the city; and the scribe, the 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.
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them
to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah
in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of
his land.
As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men,
heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they
came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth
the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they
and their men.
Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them,
“Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell
in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well
with you.”
But it happened in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed came, and ten
men with him, and struck Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews
and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.
All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the
forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the
Chaldeans.
It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of
Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and
twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon,
in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of
Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne
of the kings who were with him in Babylon,
and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread
before him continually all the days of his life:
and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him
of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.
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