Chapter 23

Josiah’s Covenant

1 aThen the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

2 The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and ahe read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant bwhich was found in the house of the Lord.

3 aThe king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, bto walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people 1entered into the covenant.

Reforms under Josiah

4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and athe priests of the second order and the 1doorkeepers, bto bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, for 2Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and che burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

5 He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the ahost of heaven.

6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and aground it to dust, and bthrew its dust on the graves of the 1common people.

7 He also broke down the houses of the amale cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where bthe women were weaving 1hangings for the Asherah.

8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from aGeba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.

9 Nevertheless athe priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

10 aHe also defiled 1Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, bthat no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for cMolech.

11 He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the asun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

12 aThe altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and bthe altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down; and he 1smashed them there and cthrew their dust into the brook Kidron.

13 The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of athe mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for bAshtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for cChemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.

14 aHe broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and bfilled their places with human bones.

15 Furthermore, athe altar that was at Bethel and the bhigh place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he 1cdemolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

16 Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it aaccording to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

17 Then he said, “What is this monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “aIt is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”

18 He said, “Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones.” So they 1left his bones undisturbed awith the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were ain the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking 1the Lord; and he did to them 2just as he had done in Bethel.

20 All the priests of the high places who were there ahe slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Reinstituted

21 Then the king commanded all the people saying, “aCelebrate the Passover to the Lord your God bas it is written in this book of the covenant.”

22 aSurely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.

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

24 Moreover, Josiah 1removed athe mediums and the spiritists and the bteraphim and cthe idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, dthat he might 2confirm the words of the law which were written ein the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.

25 Before him there was no king alike him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

26 However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, abecause of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

27 The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, aas I have removed Israel. And bI will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the 1temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’ ”

Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

29 aIn his days bPharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at cMegiddo.

30 aHis servants drove 1his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. bThen the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

31 aJehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

32 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, aaccording to all that his fathers had done.

33 aPharaoh Neco imprisoned him at bRiblah in the land of cHamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Jehoiakim Made King by Pharaoh

34 Pharaoh Neco made aEliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and bchanged his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away and 1cbrought him to Egypt, and he died there.

35 So Jehoiakim agave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to give the money at the 1command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, each according to his valuation, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

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

37 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, aaccording to all that his fathers had done.

Chapter 24

Babylon Controls Jehoiakim

1 aIn his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 The Lord sent against him abands of Chaldeans, bbands of Arameans, cbands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, daccording to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets.

3 aSurely at the 1command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight bbecause of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,

4 and aalso for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Jehoiachin Reigns

6 So aJehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.

7 aThe king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, bfor the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from cthe brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

8 aJehoiachin was beighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, aaccording to all that his father had done.

Deportation to Babylon

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

11 And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it.

12 aJehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So bthe king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

13 aHe carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and bcut in pieces all the vessels of gold cwhich Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had said.

14 Then ahe led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, bten thousand captives, and call the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained dexcept the poorest people of the land.

15 So ahe led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16 All the men of valor, aseven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.

Zedekiah Made King

17 aThen the king of Babylon made 1his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, aaccording to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For athrough the anger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And bZedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem

1 aNow in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, bNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and cbuilt a siege wall all around 1it.

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

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month athe famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 aThen the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside bthe king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And 1they went by way of the Arabah.

5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him.

6 Then athey captured the king and bbrought him to the king of Babylon at cRiblah, and 1he passed sentence on him.

7 aThey slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then bput out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Burned and Plundered

8 aNow on the seventh day of the bfifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9 aHe burned the house of the Lord, bthe king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.

10 So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard abroke down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Then athe rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile.

12 But the captain of the guard left some of athe poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

13 aNow the bronze pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and bthe bronze sea which were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the 1bronze to Babylon.

14 aThey took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.

15 The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the basins, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—athe bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.

17 aThe height of the one pillar was eighteen 1cubits, and a bronze capital was on it; the height of the capital was three 1cubits, with a network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these with network.

18 Then the captain of the guard took aSeraiah the chief priest and bZephaniah the second priest, with the three 1officers of the temple.

19 From the city he took one official who was overseer of the men of war, and afive 1of the king’s advisers who were found in the city; and the 2scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

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

21 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. aSo Judah was led away into exile from its land.

Gedaliah Made Governor

22 Now as for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed aGedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan over them.

23 aWhen all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to bMizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

24 Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

25 aBut it came about in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal 1family, came 2with ten men and struck Gedaliah down so that he died along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

26 aThen all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

27 aNow it came about in the thirty-seventh year of bthe exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, 1creleased Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison;

28 and he aspoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

29 1Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and 2ahad his meals in 3the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life;

30 and for his aallowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.