2 Kings 23; 2 Kings 24; 2 Kings 25

1 Then the king sent for all the respected leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to join him.

2 The king, everyone in Judah, everyone living in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people (young and old) went to the LORD's temple. Josiah read everything written in the Book of the Promise found in the LORD's temple so that they could hear it.

3 The king stood beside the pillar and made a promise to the LORD that he would follow the LORD and obey his commands, instructions, and laws with all his heart and soul. He confirmed the terms of the promise written in this book. And all the people joined in the promise.

4 Then the king ordered the chief priest Hilkiah, the priests who served under Hilkiah, and the doorkeepers to take out of the LORD's temple all the utensils that had been made for Baal, Asherah, and the entire army of heaven. Josiah burned the utensils outside Jerusalem in an open field near the Kidron Brook. Then he carried their ashes to Bethel.

5 He got rid of the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to sacrifice at the illegal places of worship in the cities of Judah and all around Jerusalem. They had been sacrificing to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the zodiac, and the entire army of heaven.

6 He took the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah from the temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust, and threw its ashes on the tombs of the common people.

7 He tore down the houses of the male temple prostitutes who were in the LORD's temple, where women did weaving for Asherah.

8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah from Geba to Beersheba and made the places where those priests sacrificed unclean. He tore down the worship site at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the gate named after the mayor of the city. (The worship site was to the left of anyone going through the city gate.)

9 The priests of the illegal worship sites had never gone to the LORD's altar in Jerusalem. Instead, they ate their unleavened bread among the other worshipers.

10 Josiah also made Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom unclean so that people would never again sacrifice their sons or daughters by burning them to the god Molech.

11 He removed the horses that Judah's kings had dedicated to the sun god at the entrance of the LORD's temple. They were in the temple courtyard near the room of the eunuch Nathan Melech. He also burned the chariots of the sun god,

12 the altars that Judah's kings had made and placed on the roof of Ahaz's upstairs room, and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the LORD's temple. The king tore them down from there, crushed them, and dumped their rubble in the Kidron Valley.

13 The king made the illegal places of worship east of Jerusalem unclean. They were on the southern part of the Hill of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel had built them for Astarte (the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians), Chemosh (the disgusting god of Moab), and Milcom (the disgusting god of the Ammonites).

14 Josiah crushed the sacred stones, cut down the poles dedicated to Asherah, and filled their places with human bones.

15 He also tore down the altar at Bethel--the place of worship made by Jeroboam (Nebat's son), who had made Israel sin. He tore down both the altar and the place of worship. They burned the worship site, crushing it to powder and burning the pole dedicated to Asherah.

16 When Josiah turned and saw the tombs on the hill there, he sent men to take the bones out of the tombs and burn them on the altar to make it unclean. This fulfilled the word of the LORD announced by the man of God.

17 Then he asked, "What is this monument that I see?" The people of the city answered him, "It's the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah to announce that you would do these things to the altar of Bethel."

18 So Josiah said, "Let him rest. Don't disturb his bones." So they left his bones with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 Josiah also got rid of all the temples at the illegal places of worship in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built these places to make the LORD furious. He did to them everything that he had done to the worship places at Bethel.

20 He slaughtered all the priests of the illegal worship sites on their altars and then burned human bones on them. He went back to Jerusalem.

21 The king ordered all the people to celebrate the Passover for the LORD their God as it is written in this Book of the Promise.

22 The Passover had never been celebrated like this during the time of the judges who governed Israel or during the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.

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

24 Josiah also got rid of the mediums, psychics, family idols, other idols, and disgusting gods that could be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to confirm the words of the Teachings written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the LORD's temple.

25 No king before Josiah had turned to the LORD with all his heart, soul, and strength, as directed in Moses' Teachings. No other [king] was like Josiah.

26 But the LORD still didn't turn his hot, burning anger from Judah. After all, Manasseh had done all these things to make him furious.

27 The LORD had said, "I will put Judah out of my sight as I put Israel out of my sight. I will reject Jerusalem, the city that I chose, and I will reject the temple where I said my name would be."

28 Isn't everything else about Josiah--everything he did--written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

29 In Josiah's days Pharaoh Necoh (the king of Egypt) came to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to attack Necoh. When Pharaoh saw him at Megiddo, Pharaoh killed him.

30 His officers put his dead body in a chariot and brought it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Josiah's son Jehoahaz, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he was king for 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

32 He did what the LORD considered evil, as his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh Necoh made him a prisoner at Riblah in the territory of Hamath during his reign in Jerusalem and fined the country 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.

34 Then Pharaoh Necoh made Josiah's son Eliakim king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died.

35 Jehoiakim gave Pharaoh the silver and the gold. But he had to tax the country to pay the silver Pharaoh had demanded. He taxed each person according to his wealth so that he could get the silver and gold from the people of the land and give it to Pharaoh Necoh.

36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.

37 Jehoiakim did what the LORD considered evil, as his ancestors had done.

1 During Jehoiakim's reign King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked [Judah], and Jehoiakim became subject to him for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned against him and rebelled.

2 The LORD sent raiding parties of Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah as the LORD had predicted through his servants the prophets.

3 Without a doubt, this happened to Judah because the LORD had commanded it to happen. He wanted to remove the people of Judah from his sight because of Manasseh's sins--everything he had done,

4 including the innocent blood he had shed. He had a lot of innocent people in Jerusalem killed, and the LORD refused to forgive him.

5 Isn't everything else about Jehoiakim--everything he did--written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

6 Jehoiakim lay down in death with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiakin succeeded him as king.

7 The king of Egypt didn't leave his own country again because the king of Babylon had taken all the territory from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River. This territory had belonged to the king of Egypt.

8 Jehoiakin was 18 years old when he began to rule as king. He was king for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.

9 Jehoiakin did what the LORD considered evil, as his father had done.

10 At that time the officers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem. (The city was blockaded.)

11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon arrived while his officers were blockading the city.

12 King Jehoiakin of Judah, his mother, officials, generals, and eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. In the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon captured Jehoiakin.

13 He also took away all the treasures in the LORD's temple and the royal palace. As the LORD had predicted, Nebuchadnezzar stripped the gold off all the furnishings that King Solomon of Israel had made for the LORD's temple.

14 He captured all Jerusalem, all the generals, all the soldiers (10,000 prisoners), and all the craftsmen and smiths. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

15 He took Jehoiakin to Babylon as a captive. He also took the king's mother, wives, eunuchs, and the leading citizens of the land from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon.

16 The king of Babylon brought all 7,000 of the prominent landowners, 1,000 craftsmen and smiths, and all the men who could fight in war as captives to Babylon.

17 The king of Babylon made King Jehoiakin's Uncle Mattaniah king in his place and changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

19 Zedekiah did what the LORD considered evil, as Jehoiakim had done.

20 The LORD became angry with Jerusalem and Judah and threw the people out of his sight. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

1 On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls.

2 The blockade of the city lasted until Zedekiah's eleventh year as king.

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.

4 The enemy broke through the city walls that night. All Judah's soldiers left on the road of the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, the king took the road to the plain [of Jericho].

5 The Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plain of Jericho. His entire army had deserted him.

6 The Babylonians captured the king, brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and passed sentence on him.

7 They slaughtered Zedekiah's sons as he watched, and then they blinded Zedekiah. They put him in bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9 He burned down the LORD's temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down.

10 The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.

12 The captain of the guard left some of the poorest people in the land to work in the vineyards and on the farms.

13 The Babylonians broke apart the bronze pillars of the LORD's temple, the stands, and the bronze pool in the LORD's temple. They shipped the bronze to Babylon.

14 They took the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes, and all the bronze utensils used in the temple service.

15 The captain of the guard took all of the incense burners and bowls that were made of gold or silver.

16 The bronze from the two pillars, the pool, and the stands that Solomon had made for the LORD's temple couldn't be weighed.

17 One pillar was 27 feet high and had a bronze capital on it that was 4½ feet high. The filigree and the pomegranates around the capital were all made of bronze. The second pillar and its filigree were the same.

18 The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the 3 doorkeepers.

19 From the city he also took an army commander, 5 men who had access to the king whom he found in the city, the scribe who was in charge of the militia, and 60 of the common people whom he found in the city.

20 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

21 The king of Babylon executed them at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So the people of Judah were captives when they left their land.

22 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern the remaining people in the land of Judah.

23 When all the army commanders and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan (son of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth from Netophah), and Jaazaniah from Beth Maacah and their men.

24 Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men. He said, "Don't be afraid of the Babylonian officers. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper."

25 In the seventh month Ishmael (son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the kings) went with ten men to kill Gedaliah and the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

26 Then people of all classes and the army commanders left for Egypt because they were afraid of the Babylonians.

27 On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment of King Jehoiakin of Judah, King Evil Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, freed King Jehoiakin of Judah from prison.

28 He treated him well and gave him a special position higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

29 Jehoiakin no longer wore prison clothes, and he ate his meals in the king's presence as long as he lived.

30 The king of Babylon gave him a daily food allowance as long as he lived.