2 Chronicles 33:1–34:33
33 Manasseh awas twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the babominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the 1high places which Hezekiah his father had cbroken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and dmade wooden images; and he worshiped eall 2the host of heaven and served them. 4 He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, f“In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven gin the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 hAlso he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced isoothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and jconsulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 7 kHe even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the 3house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, l“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; 8 mand I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers—only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.” 9 So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
Manasseh Restored After Repentance
10 And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not 4listen. 11 nTherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with 5hooks, obound him with 6bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and phumbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He qreceived his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh rknew that the Lord was God.
14 After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of sGihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it tenclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He took away uthe foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. 16 He also repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and vthank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 wNevertheless the people still sacrificed on the 7high places, but only to the Lord their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of xthe seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, indeed they are written in the 8book of the kings of Israel. 19 Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built 9high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of 1Hozai. 20 ySo Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.
21 zAmon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them. 23 And he did not humble himself before the Lord, aas his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.
24 bThen his servants conspired against him, and ckilled him in his own house. 25 But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.
34 Josiah awas eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still byoung, he began to cseek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began dto purge Judah and Jerusalem eof the 1high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images. 4 fThey broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them gand scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He also hburned the bones of the priests on their ialtars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. 6 And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around, with 2axes. 7 When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had jbeaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law
8 kIn the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the 3temple, he sent lShaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the mgovernor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. 9 When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered nthe money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the oremnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, and which they had brought back to Jerusalem. 10 Then they put it in the hand of the foremen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the Lord, to repair and restore the house. 11 They gave it to the craftsmen and builders to buy hewn stone and timber for beams, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12 And the men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to supervise. Others of the Levites, all of whom were skillful with instruments of music, 13 were pover the burden bearers and were overseers of all who did work in any kind of service. qAnd some of the Levites were scribes, officers, and gatekeepers.
14 Now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest rfound the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. 15 Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the sbook to Shaphan. 16 So Shaphan carried the book to the king, bringing the king word, saying, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. 17 And they have 4gathered the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.” 18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
19 Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes. 20 Then the king commanded Hilkiah, tAhikam the son of Shaphan, 5Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, 21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not ukept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
22 So Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of 6Tokhath, the son of 7Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke to her to that effect.
23 Then she answered them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, 24 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will vbring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the wbook which they have read before the king of Judah, 25 because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched.’ ” ’ 26 But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard—27 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the xLord. 28 “Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.
29 yThen the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small. And he zread in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. 31 Then the king astood in bhis place and made a ccovenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with …