Parallel Bible results for "2 kings 23"

2 Kings 23

New Century Version NCV

1 Then the king gathered all the older leaders of Judah and Jerusalem together.

2 He went up to the Temple of the Lord, and all the people from Judah and Jerusalem went with him. The priests, prophets, and all the people -- from the least important to the most important -- went with him. He read to them all the words of the Book of the Agreement that was found in the Temple of the Lord.

3 The king stood by the pillar and made an agreement in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and obey his commands, rules, and laws with his whole being, and to obey the words of the agreement written in this book. Then all the people promised to obey the agreement.

4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the next rank and the gatekeepers to bring out of the Temple of the Lord everything made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. Then Josiah burned them outside Jerusalem in the open country of the Kidron Valley and carried their ashes to Bethel

5 The kings of Judah had chosen priests for these gods. These priests burned incense in the places where gods were worshiped in the cities of Judah and the towns around Jerusalem. They burned incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the stars of the sky. But Josiah took those priests away.

6 He removed the Asherah idol from the Temple of the Lord and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it and beat it into dust. Then he threw the dust on the graves of the common people.

7 He also tore down the houses of the male prostitutes who were in the Temple of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah.

8 King Josiah brought all the false priests from the cities of Judah. He ruined the places where gods were worshiped, where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the places of worship at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the ruler of the city, on the left side of the city gate.

9 The priests at the places where gods were worshiped were not allowed to serve at the Lord's altar in Jerusalem. But they could eat bread made without yeast with their brothers.

10 Josiah ruined Topheth, in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could sacrifice his son or daughter to Molech.

11 Judah's kings had placed horses at the front door of the Temple of the Lord in the courtyard near the room of Nathan-Melech, an officer. These horses were for the worship of the sun. So Josiah removed them and burned the chariots that were for sun worship also.

12 The kings of Judah had built altars on the roofn of the upstairs room of Ahaz. Josiah broke down these altars and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. Josiah smashed them to pieces and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 King Josiah ruined the places where gods were worshiped east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives. Solomon king of Israel had built these places. One was for Ashtoreth, the hated goddess of the Sidonians. One was for Chemosh, the hated god of Moab. And one was for Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites.

14 Josiah smashed to pieces the stone pillars they worshiped, and he cut down the Asherah idols. Then he covered the places with human bones

15 Josiah also broke down the altar at Bethel -- the place of worship made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had led Israel to sin. Josiah burned that place, broke the stones of the altar into pieces, then beat them into dust. He also burned the Asherah idol.

16 When he turned around, he saw the graves on the mountain. He had the bones taken from the graves, and he burned them on the altar to ruin it. This happened as the Lord had said it would through the man of God.

17 Josiah asked, "What is that monument I see?" The people of the city answered, "It's the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. This prophet announced the things you have done against the altar of Bethel."

18 Josiah said, "Leave the grave alone. No one may move this man's bones." So they left his bones and the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 The kings of Israel had built temples for worshiping gods in the cities of Samaria, which had caused the Lord to be angry. Josiah removed all those temples and did the same things as he had done at Bethel

20 He killed all the priests of those places of worship; he killed them on the altars and burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

21 The king commanded all the people, "Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the Agreement.

22 The Passover had not been celebrated like this since the judges led Israel. Nor had one like it happened while there were kings of Israel and kings of Judah.

23 This Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah's rule.

24 Josiah destroyed the mediums, fortune-tellers, house gods, and idols. He also destroyed all the hated gods seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. This was to obey the words of the teachings written in the book Hilkiah the priest had found in the Temple of the Lord.

25 There was no king like Josiah before or after him. He obeyed the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength, following all the Teachings of Moses.

26 Even so, the Lord did not stop his strong and terrible anger. His anger burned against Judah because of all Manasseh had done to make him angry.

27 The Lord said, "I will send Judah out of my sight, as I have sent Israel away. I will reject Jerusalem, which I chose. And I will take away the Temple about which I said, 'I will be worshiped there.'"

28 Everything else Josiah did is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah.

29 While Josiah was king, Neco king of Egypt went to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah marched out to fight against Neco, but at Megiddo, Neco faced him and killed him.

30 Josiah's servants carried his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own grave. Then the people of Judah chose Josiah's son Jehoahaz and poured olive oil on him to make him king in his father's place.

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Hamutal, who was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

32 Jehoahaz did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his ancestors had done.

33 King Neco took Jehoahaz prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Neco made the people of Judah pay about seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and about seventy-five pounds of gold.

34 King Neco made Josiah's son Eliakim the king in place of Josiah his father. Then Neco changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died.

35 Jehoiakim gave King Neco the silver and gold he demanded. Jehoiakim taxed the land and took silver and gold from the people of the land to give to King Neco. Each person had to pay his share.

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

37 Jehoiakim did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his ancestors had done.

The Complete Jewish Bible CJB

1 Then the king summoned all the leaders of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, and they assembled with him.

2 The king went up to the house of ADONAI with all the men of Y'hudah, all those living in Yerushalayim, the cohanim, the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing everything written in the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of ADONAI.

3 The king stood on the platform and made a covenant in the presence of ADONAI to live following ADONAI, observing his mitzvot, instructions and regulations wholeheartedly and with all his being, so as to confirm the words of the covenant written in this scroll. All the people stood, pledging themselves to keep the covenant.

4 Then the king ordered Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, the cohanim of the second rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the sanctuary of ADONAI all the articles that had been made for Ba'al, for the asherah and for the entire army of heaven; and he burned them up outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Beit-El

5 He deposed the idolatrous priests the kings of Y'hudah had ordained to offer on the high places by the cities of Y'hudah and in the places surrounding Yerushalayim; he also deposed those who offered to Ba'al, the sun, the moon, the constellations and the whole army of heaven.

6 He took the asherah from the house of ADONAI to Vadi Kidron outside Yerushalayim and burned it in Vadi Kidron, stamped the ashes to powder and threw the powder onto the burial-ground for the common people.

7 He smashed the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house of ADONAI, where the women also wove garments for the asherah.

8 He removed the cohanim from the cities of Y'hudah; then, from Geva to Be'er-Sheva, he desecrated the high places where the cohanim had been making offerings. He also smashed the High Places of the Gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Y'hoshua the governor of the city, on the left as one enters the city.

9 But although the cohanim who had been at the high places did not come up to the altar of ADONAI in Yerushalayim, nevertheless they did share matzah with their kinsmen.

10 He desecrated the Tofet fire pit in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, so that no one could cause his son or daughter to pass through fire [as a sacrifice] to Molekh.

11 He confiscated the horses which the kings of Y'hudah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the house of ADONAI near the room of the officer N'tan-Melekh, in the side-courtyard; and he burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 The king smashed the altars on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Y'hudah had made, and the altars which M'nasheh had made in the two courtyards of the house of ADONAI. He broke them into pieces and threw the rubble into Vadi Kidron.

13 The king desecrated the high places facing Yerushalayim south of the Mount of Destruction, which Shlomo the king of Isra'el had built for 'Ashtoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, K'mosh the abomination of Mo'av and Milkom the abomination of the people of 'Amon.

14 He smashed the standing-stones, chopped down the sacred poles and covered their remains with human bones

15 He smashed the altar that was at Beit-El and the high place made by Yarov'am the son of N'vat, who caused Isra'el to sin. Yes, he smashed that altar and the high place; he burned the high place, stamped the ashes to powder, and burned up the asherah.

16 Then, as Yoshiyahu was turning around, he noticed the burial caves that were there on the mountain; so he sent and had the bones taken out of the burial caves and burned them on the altar, thus desecrating it, in keeping with the word of ADONAI which the man of God had proclaimed, foretelling that these things would happen.

17 Then he asked, "This monument here that I'm looking at, what is it?" The men of the city told him, "It marks the burial cave of the man of God who came from Y'hudah and foretold the very things you have done to the altar of Beit-El."

18 He replied, "Let him be; no one is to move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Shomron.

19 Yoshiyahu also removed all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Isra'el had made in order to provoke [ADONAI] to anger, and treated them the same as in Beit-El

20 He put to death all the priests of those high places on the altars there, then burned human bones on them. Finally he returned to Yerushalayim.

21 The king issued this order to all the people: "Observe Pesach to ADONAI your God, as written in this scroll of the covenant.

22 For Pesach had not been so observed since the days when the judges ruled Isra'el - not during the times of any of the kings of Isra'el or of the kings of Y'hudah.

23 But in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu this Pesach was observed to ADONAI in Yerushalayim.

24 Yoshiyahu got rid of the mediums and the people using spirit guides, as well as the household gods, the idols and all the disgusting things spotted anywhere in Y'hudah and Yerushalayim. He did this in order to establish the words of the Torah written in the scroll Hilkiyahu the cohen had found in the house of ADONAI.

25 No previous king was like him; because he turned to ADONAI with all his heart, with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moshe; nor did any king like him arise afterwards.

26 Nevertheless, ADONAI did not turn away from his fiercely raging, furious anger that burned against Y'hudah because of all the things M'nasheh had done to provoke him.

27 ADONAI said, "Just as I removed Isra'el, I will also remove Y'hudah out of my sight; and I will reject this city, which I chose, Yerushalayim, and the house concerning which I said, 'My name will be there.'"

28 Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y'hudah.

29 During his time Pharaoh N'khoh king of Egypt went up toward the Euphrates River to attack the king of Ashur. King Yoshiyahu went out to oppose him; but at Megiddo, Pharaoh spotted Yoshiyahu and killed him.

30 His servants carried his dead body from Megiddo to Yerushalayim in a chariot and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Y'ho'achaz the son of Yoshiyahu, anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

31 Y'ho'achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah.

32 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh N'khoh imprisoned him at Rivlah in the land of Hamat, so that he would not be able to rule in Yerushalayim. He also imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-quarter tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold.

34 Then Pharaoh N'khoh made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in place of Yoshiyahu his father and changed his name to Y'hoyakim. He also carried Y'ho'achaz off to Egypt, where he died.

35 Y'hoyakim remitted the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but in order to pay the money Pharaoh demanded, he had to levy a tax on the land. He taxed the people of the land, each according to his means, to pay the silver and gold to Pharaoh N'khoh.

36 Y'hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Z'vudah the daughter of P'dayah, from Rumah

37 He did what was evil from the perspective of ADONAI, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.