2 Chr 32:33-35:27 : 33 Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the most honored of the tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 But he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he erected altars for Baal, made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 He also built altars in the house of the LORD, where the LORD had said, 'In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.'
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; also he observed times, used enchantments, used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards; he did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set a carved image, the idol he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and Solomon his son, 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.'
8 And I will no longer remove the foot of Israel from the land which I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them according to the whole law and statutes and ordinances by the hand of Moses.
9 So Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do worse than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.
11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh among the thorns, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in distress, he sought the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
13 And he prayed to him, and he was entreated of him and heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
14 After this, he built a wall outside the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, reaching the entrance of the Fish Gate, and encircled Ophel, raising it to a great height, and put commanders of war in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 And he removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars he had built on the hill of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed in the high 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 the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, are written in the book of the kings of Israel.
19 Also his prayer, how God was entreated of him, all his sin and trespass, and the places where he built high places and set up groves and carved images, before he humbled himself, are written among the sayings of the seers.
20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 But he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images Manasseh his father had made and served them.
23 And he did not humble himself before the LORD as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house.
25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.
2 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the groves, the carved images, and the molten images.
4 And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were high above them, he cut down; and the groves, the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and scattered it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5 And he burned the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, and all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.
10 And they put it into the hand of the workmen 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 amend the house:
11 Even to the craftsmen and builders they gave it, to buy hewn stone, timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of music.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that did work in any kind of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.
15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to your servants, they do it.
17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and to the hand of 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 And it happened, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,
21 Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.
22 And Hilkiah, and those whom the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spoke to her to that effect.
23 And she answered them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,
24 Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants of it, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:
25 Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.
26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall you say 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 the inhabitants of it, and humbled yourself before me, and tore your clothes, and wept before me; I have even heard you also, says the LORD.
28 Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.
29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.
31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.
32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they did not depart from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
1 Moreover, Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 And he appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD.
3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, 'Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall not be a burden on your shoulders. Serve now the LORD your God and His people Israel.'
4 And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
5 And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of your brethren the people, and according to the division of the families of the Levites.
6 So kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
7 And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the Passover offerings, for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand cattle. These were from the king's possessions.
8 And his princes gave willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred oxen.
9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings five thousand sheep and five hundred oxen.
10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's commandment.
11 And they killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites skinned them.
12 And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the oxen.
13 And they roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance, but the other holy offerings they cooked in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly among all the people.
14 And afterward they made ready for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering burnt offerings and the fat until night. Therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
15 And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun, the king's seer; and the porters waited at every gate. They could not depart from their service, because their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.
17 And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18 There had been no Passover like that kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, this Passover was kept.
20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.
21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, 'What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I do not come against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. For God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from interfering with God, who is with me, so that He does not destroy you.'
22 Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him but disguised himself so that he might fight with him and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
23 And the archers shot at king Josiah, and the king said to his servants, 'Take me away, for I am severely wounded.'
24 His servants, therefore, took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel. And behold, they are written in the lamentations.
26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, according to what was written in the law of the LORD,
27 and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.