2 Kings 23; 2 Kings 24; 2 Kings 25

1 the king sent a message, and all of Judah's and Jerusalem's elders gathered before him.

2 Then the king went up to the LORD's temple, together with all the people of Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets, and all the people, young and old alike. There the king read out loud all the words of the covenant scroll that had been found in the LORD's temple.

3 The king stood beside the pillar and made a covenant with the LORD that he would follow the LORD by keeping his commandments, his laws, and his regulations with all his heart and all his being in order to fulfill the words of this covenant that were written in this scroll. All of the people accepted the covenant.

4 The king then commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the second-order priests, and the doorkeepers to remove from the LORD's temple all the religious objects made for Baal, Asherah, and all the heavenly bodies. The king burned them outside Jerusalem in the Kidron fields and took the ashes to Bethel.

5 He got rid of the pagan priests that the Judean kings had appointed to burn incense at the shrines in Judah's cities and the areas around Jerusalem. He did the same to those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the heavenly bodies.

6 He removed the Asherah image from the LORD's temple, taking it to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. There he burned it, ground it to dust, and threw the dust on the public graveyard.

7 The king tore down the shrines for the consecrated workers that were in the LORD's temple, where women made woven coverings for Asherah.

8 Then Josiah brought all the priests out of Judah's cities. From Geba to Beer-sheba, he defiled the shrines where the priests had been burning incense. He also tore down the shrines at the gates at the entrance to the gate of Joshua the city's governor, which were on the left as one entered the city gate.

9 Although the priests of these shrines didn't go up on the LORD's altar in Jerusalem, they did eat unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 Josiah defiled the Topheth in the Ben-hinnom Valley so no one could burn their child alive in honor of the god Molech.

11 He did away with the horses that Judah's kings had dedicated to the sun. They were kept at the entrance to the LORD's temple near a room in the annex that belonged to an official named Nathan-melech. Josiah set fire to the chariots that were dedicated to the sun.

12 The king also tore down the altars that were on the roof of Ahaz's upper story, which had been made by the Judean kings, and he did the same with the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the LORD's temple. He broke them up there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 The king then defiled the shrines facing Jerusalem, south of the Mountain of Destruction. Solomon the king of Israel had built these for Ashtoreth, the monstrous Sidonian god, for Chemosh, the monstrous Moabite god, and for Milcom, the detestable Ammonite god.

14 He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the sacred poles, filling the places where they had been with human bones.

15 Josiah also tore down the altar that was in Bethel. That was the shrine made by Jeroboam, Nebat's son, who caused Israel to sin. Josiah tore down that altar and its shrine. He burned the shrine, grinding it into dust. Then he burned its sacred pole.

16 When Josiah turned around, he noticed tombs up on the hillside. So he ordered the bones to be taken out of the tombs. He then burned them on the altar, desecrating it. (This was in agreement with the word that the LORD announced by the man of God when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the festival.) Josiah then turned and saw the tomb of the man of God who had predicted these things.

17 "What's this gravestone I see?" Josiah asked. The people of the city replied, "That tomb belongs to the man of God who came from Judah and announced what you would do to the altar of Bethel."

18 "Let it be," Josiah said. "No one should disturb his bones." So they left his bones untouched, along with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Moreover, Josiah removed all the shrines on the high hills that the Israelite kings had constructed throughout the cities of Samaria. These had made the LORD angry. Josiah did to them just what he did at Bethel.

20 He actually slaughtered on those altars all the priests of the shrines who were there, and he burned human bones on them. Then Josiah returned to Jerusalem.

21 The king commanded all the people, "Celebrate a Passover to the LORD your God following what is instructed in this scroll containing the covenant."

22 A Passover like this hadn't been celebrated since the days when the judges judged Israel; neither had it been celebrated during all the days of the Israelite and Judean kings.

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

24 Josiah burned those who consulted dead spirits and the mediums, the household gods and the worthless idols—all the monstrous things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way Josiah fulfilled the words of the Instruction written in the scroll that the priest Hilkiah found in the LORD's temple.

25 There's never been a king like Josiah, whether before or after him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, all his being, and all his strength, in agreement with everything in the Instruction from Moses.

26 Even so, the LORD didn't turn away from the great rage that burned against Judah on account of all that Manasseh had done to make him angry.

27 The LORD said, "I will remove Judah from my presence just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city, Jerusalem, which I chose, and this temple where I promised my name would reside."

28 The rest of Josiah's deeds and all that he accomplished, aren't they written in the official records of Judah's kings?

29 In his days, the Egyptian king Pharaoh Neco marched against the Assyrian king at the Euphrates River. King Josiah marched out to intercept him. But when Neco encountered Josiah in Megiddo, he killed the king.

30 Josiah's servants took his body from Megiddo in a chariot. They brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz, Josiah's son, anointed him, and made him king after his father.

31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal; she was Jeremiah's daughter and was from Libnah.

32 He did what was evil in the LORD's eyes, just as all his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh Neco made Jehoahaz a prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath, ending his rule in Jerusalem. Pharaoh Neco imposed a fine on the land totaling one hundred kikkars of silver and one kikkar of gold.

34 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim, Josiah's son, king after his father Josiah. Neco changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Neco took Jehoahaz away; he later died in Egypt.

35 Jehoiakim gave Pharaoh the silver and gold, but he taxed the land in order to meet Pharaoh's financial demands. Each person was taxed appropriately. Jehoiakim exacted silver and the gold from the land's people in order to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah; she was Pedaiah's daughter and was from Rumah.

37 He did what was evil in the LORD's eyes, just as all his ancestors had done.

1 In Jehoiakim's days, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim had submitted to him for three years, but then Jehoiakim changed his mind and rebelled against him.

2 The LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding parties against Jehoiakim, sending them against Judah in order to destroy it. This was in agreement with the word that the LORD had spoken through his servants the prophets.

3 Indeed, this happened to Judah because the LORD commanded them to be removed from his presence on account of all the sins that Manasseh had committed

4 and because of the innocent blood that he had spilled. Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD didn't want to forgive that.

5 The rest of Jehoiakim's deeds and all that he accomplished, aren't they written in the official records of Judah's kings?

6 Jehoiakim lay down with his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.

7 The Egyptian king never left his country again because the Babylonian king had taken over all the territory that had previously belonged to him—from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

8 Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king, and he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta; she was Elnathan's daughter and was from Jerusalem.

9 He did what was evil in the LORD's eyes, just as all his ancestors had done.

10 At that time, the officers of Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and laid siege to the city.

11 Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar himself arrived at the city while his officers were blockading it.

12 Judah's King Jehoiachin, along with his mother, his servants, his officers, and his officials, came out to surrender to the Babylonian king. The Babylonian king took Jehoiachin prisoner in the eighth year of Jehoiachin's rule.

13 Nebuchadnezzar also took away all the treasures of the LORD's temple and of the royal palace. He cut into pieces all the gold objects that Israel's King Solomon had made for the LORD's temple, which is exactly what the LORD said would happen.

14 Then Nebuchadnezzar exiled all of Jerusalem: all the officials, all the military leaders—ten thousand exiles—as well as all the skilled workers and metalworkers. No one was left behind except the poorest of the land's people.

15 Nebuchadnezzar exiled Jehoiachin to Babylon; he also exiled the queen mother, the king's wives, the officials, and the land's elite leaders from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16 The Babylonian king also exiled seven thousand warriors—each one a hero trained for battle—as well as a thousand skilled workers and metalworkers to Babylon.

17 Then the Babylonian king made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, succeed Jehoiachin as king. Nebuchadnezzar changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal; she was Jeremiah's daughter and was from Libnah.

19 He did what was evil in the LORD's eyes, just as Jehoiakim had done.

20 It was precisely because the LORD was angry with Jerusalem and Judah that he thrust them out of his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the Babylonian king.

1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. He camped beside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

2 The city was under attack until King Zedekiah's eleventh year.

3 On the ninth day of the month, the famine in the city got so bad that no food remained for the common people.

4 Then the enemy broke into the city. All the soldiers fled by night using the gate between the two walls near the King's Garden. The Chaldeans were surrounding the city, so the soldiers ran toward the desert plain.

5 But the Chaldean army chased King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the Jericho plains. His entire army deserted him.

6 So the Chaldeans captured the king and brought him back to the Babylonian king, who was at Riblah. There his punishment was determined.

7 Zedekiah's sons were slaughtered right before his eyes. Then he was blinded, put in bronze chains, and taken off to Babylon.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan arrived at Jerusalem. He was the commander of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king.

9 He burned down the LORD's temple, the royal palace, and all of Jerusalem's houses. He burned down every important building.

10 The whole Chaldean army under the commander of the guard tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

11 Then Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard exiled the people who were left in the city, those who had already surrendered to Babylon's king, and the rest of the population.

12 The commander of the guard left some of the land's poor people behind to work the vineyards and be farmers.

13 The Chaldeans shattered the bronze columns, the stands, and the bronze Sea that were in the LORD's temple. They carried the bronze off to Babylon.

14 They also took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the dishes, and all the bronze items that had been used in the temple.

15 The commander of the guard took the fire pans and the sprinkling bowls, which were made of pure gold and pure silver.

16 The bronze in all these objects—the two pillars, the Sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the LORD's temple—was too heavy to weigh.

17 Each pillar was twenty-seven feet high. The bronze capital on top of the first pillar was four and a half feet high. Decorative lattices and pomegranates, all made from bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar was decorated with lattices just like the first.

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

19 Of those still left in the city, Nebuzaradan took away an officer who was in charge of the army and five royal advisors who were discovered in the city. He also took away the secretary of the officer responsible for drafting the land's people to fight, as well as sixty people who were discovered in the city.

20 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard took all of these people and brought them to the Babylonian king at Riblah.

21 The king of Babylon struck them down, killing them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was exiled from its land.

22 Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar put Gedaliah, Ahikam's son and Shaphan's grandson, in charge of the people he had left behind in the land of Judah.

23 All the army officers and their soldiers heard that the Babylonian king had appointed Gedaliah as governor, so they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers were Ishmael, Nethaniah's son; Johanan, Kareah's son; Seraiah, Tanhumeth's son who was a Netophathite; and Jaazaniah, Maacathite's son.

24 Gedaliah made a solemn pledge to them and their soldiers, telling them, "Don't be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Stay in the land and serve the Babylonian king, and things will go well for you."

25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael, Nethaniah's son and Elishama's grandson, who was from the royal family, came with ten soldiers, and they struck Gedaliah, and he died. They also killed the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

26 Then all the people, young and old, along with the army officers, departed for Egypt because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

27 In the year that Awil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released Judah's King Jehoiachin from prison. This happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month.

28 Awil-merodach spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and seated him above the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

29 So Jehoiachin took off his prisoner clothes and ate regularly in the king's presence for the rest of his life.

30 At the king's command, a regular food allowance was given to him every day for the rest of his life.