2 Kings 23; 2 Kings 24; 2 Kings 25; 1 Chronicles 1; 1 Chronicles 2

2 Kings 23

1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

2 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD.

3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel.

5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.

6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.

7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the LORD, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate.

9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek.

11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.

13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon.

14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

15 Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.

16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

17 The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?” The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the LORD’s anger.

20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed.

23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.

25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger.

27 So the LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’ ”

28 As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

30 Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

32 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his predecessors had done.

33 Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

34 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.

35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.

37 And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his predecessors had done.

2 Kings 24

1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled.

2 The LORD sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by his servants the prophets.

3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done,

4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.

5 As for the other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

6 Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.

7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.

9 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father had done.

10 At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it,

11 and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it.

12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him. In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner.

13 As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD.

14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

15 Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land.

16 The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans.

17 He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

19 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

20 It was because of the LORD’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

2 Kings 25

1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.

2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.

4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,

5 but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,

6 and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.

7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.

10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.

12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon.

14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.

15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.

16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed.

17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.

18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.

19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city.

20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah.

23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men.

24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”

25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.

27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month.

28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.

30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.

1 Chronicles 1

1 Adam, Seth, Enosh,

2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.

4 The sons of Noah:Shem, Ham and Japheth.

5 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.

6 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

7 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.

8 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

9 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah and Sabteka. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

10 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on earth.

11 Egypt was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,

12 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

13 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

14 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,

15 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,

16 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

17 The sons of Shem: Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. The sons of Aram:Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.

18 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.

19 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

20 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

22 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

23 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,

25 Eber, Peleg, Reu,

26 Serug, Nahor, Terah

27 and Abram (that is, Abraham).

28 The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.

29 These were their descendants: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,

31 Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.

32 The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.

33 The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

34 Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.

35 The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam and Korah.

36 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz; by Timna: Amalek.

37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah.

38 The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.

39 The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan’s sister.

40 The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah.

41 The son of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran.

42 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan.The sons of Dishan : Uz and Aran.

43 These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: Bela son of Beor, whose city was named Dinhabah.

44 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king.

45 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king.

46 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith.

47 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king.

48 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king.

49 When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king.

50 When Baal-Hanan died, Hadad succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.

51 Hadad also died. The chiefs of Edom were: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

52 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

53 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

54 Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.

1 Chronicles 2

1 These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

3 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.

4 Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar bore Perez and Zerah to Judah. He had five sons in all.

5 The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

6 The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Kalkol and Darda —five in all.

7 The son of Karmi: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel by violating the ban on taking devoted things.

8 The son of Ethan: Azariah.

9 The sons born to Hezron were: Jerahmeel, Ram and Caleb.

10 Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, the leader of the people of Judah.

11 Nahshon was the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz,

12 Boaz the father of Obed and Obed the father of Jesse.

13 Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn; the second son was Abinadab, the third Shimea,

14 the fourth Nethanel, the fifth Raddai,

15 the sixth Ozem and the seventh David.

16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel.

17 Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

18 Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah (and by Jerioth). These were her sons: Jesher, Shobab and Ardon.

19 When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.

20 Hur was the father of Uri, and Uri the father of Bezalel.

21 Later, Hezron, when he was sixty years old, married the daughter of Makir the father of Gilead. He made love to her, and she bore him Segub.

22 Segub was the father of Jair, who controlled twenty-three towns in Gilead.

23 (But Geshur and Aram captured Havvoth Jair, as well as Kenath with its surrounding settlements—sixty towns.) All these were descendants of Makir the father of Gilead.

24 After Hezron died in Caleb Ephrathah, Abijah the wife of Hezron bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.

25 The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron: Ram his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem and Ahijah.

26 Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

27 The sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin and Eker.

28 The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.

29 Abishur’s wife was named Abihail, who bore him Ahban and Molid.

30 The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim. Seled died without children.

31 The son of Appaim: Ishi, who was the father of Sheshan. Sheshan was the father of Ahlai.

32 The sons of Jada, Shammai’s brother: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died without children.

33 The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.

34 Sheshan had no sons—only daughters. He had an Egyptian servant named Jarha.

35 Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, and she bore him Attai.

36 Attai was the father of Nathan, Nathan the father of Zabad,

37 Zabad the father of Ephlal, Ephlal the father of Obed,

38 Obed the father of Jehu, Jehu the father of Azariah,

39 Azariah the father of Helez, Helez the father of Eleasah,

40 Eleasah the father of Sismai, Sismai the father of Shallum,

41 Shallum the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah the father of Elishama.

42 The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and his son Mareshah, who was the father of Hebron.

43 The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema.

44 Shema was the father of Raham, and Raham the father of Jorkeam. Rekem was the father of Shammai.

45 The son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth Zur.

46 Caleb’s concubine Ephah was the mother of Haran, Moza and Gazez. Haran was the father of Gazez.

47 The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah and Shaaph.

48 Caleb’s concubine Maakah was the mother of Sheber and Tirhanah.

49 She also gave birth to Shaaph the father of Madmannah and to Sheva the father of Makbenah and Gibea. Caleb’s daughter was Aksah.

50 These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath Jearim,

51 Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth Gader.

52 The descendants of Shobal the father of Kiriath Jearim were: Haroeh, half the Manahathites,

53 and the clans of Kiriath Jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites and Mishraites. From these descended the Zorathites and Eshtaolites.

54 The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth Beth Joab, half the Manahathites, the Zorites,

55 and the clans of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the Rekabites.