Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 It was in the seventeenth year of Pekach the son of Remalyah that Achaz the son of Yotam king of Y’hudah began his reign.

2 Achaz was twenty years old when he began to rule, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerushalayim. But he did not do what was right from the perspective ofAdonaihis God, as David his ancestor had done.

3 Rather, he lived in the manner of the kings of Isra’el; he even made his son pass through fire [as a sacrifice], in keeping with the abominable practices of the pagans, whomAdonaihad thrown out ahead of the people of Isra’el.

4 He also sacrificed and offered on the high places, on the hills and under any green tree.

5 Then Retzin king of Aram and Pekach son of Remalyah, king of Isra’el, came up to fight against Yerushalayim. They put Achaz under siege, but they could not overcome him.

6 It was at that time that Retzin king of Aram recovered Eilat for Aram and drove the Judeans from Eilat; whereupon people from Edom came to Eilat to live, as they do to this day.

7 Then Achaz sent messengers to Tiglat-Pil’eser king of Ashur with this message: “I am your servant and your son. Come up, and save me from the king of Aram and the king of Isra’el, who are attacking me.”

8 Achaz took the silver and gold that was in the house ofAdonaiand in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a present to the king of Ashur.

9 The king of Ashur heeded him — the king of Ashur attacked Dammesek and captured it; then he carried its people captive to Kir and killed Retzin.

10 When King Achaz went to Dammesek to meet Tiglat-Pil’eser king of Ashur and saw the altar that was in Dammesek, he sent a drawing and model of the altar to Uriyah thecohen, with details of its construction and decoration.

11 Then Uriyah thecohenbuilt an altar exactly according to the design King Achaz had sent from Dammesek; Uriyah thecohenhad it ready by the time King Achaz returned from Dammesek.

12 When the king arrived from Dammesek he saw the altar, and the king approached the altar and offered on it.

13 He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering and splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

14 The bronze altar, which was beforeAdonai, he brought from in front of the house, from between his own altar and the house ofAdonai, and put it on the north side of his own altar.

15 Then King Achaz instructed Uriyah thecohenas follows: “Henceforth, it is on the large altar that you are to offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, together with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering and their drink offerings; and you are to splash all the blood of the burnt offering against it and all the blood of the sacrifice. As for the bronze altar, I will take care of that.”

16 Uriyah thecohenacted in accordance with everything King Achaz ordered.

17 King Achaz removed the panels of the trolleys and took the basins off them; he took the Sea off the bronze oxen supporting it and set it on the stone pavement;

18 and, because of the king of Ashur, he removed from the house ofAdonaithe colonnade used onShabbatthat had been built for it and the king’s entranceway outside it.

19 Other activities of Achaz and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

20 Achaz slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then Hizkiyahu his son took his place as king.

1 It was in the twelfth year of Achaz king of Y’hudah that Hoshea the son of Elah began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron; he ruled for nine years.

2 He did what was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, although he wasn’t as bad as the kings of Isra’el who had preceded him.

3 Shalman’eser king of Ashur advanced against Hoshea, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.

4 But the king of Ashur found that Hoshea was conspiring [against him] — he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt and not paid his tribute to the king of Ashur, as he had previously done every year. For this the king of Ashur imprisoned him, putting him in chains.

5 Then the king of Ashur invaded all the land, advanced on Shomron and put it under siege for three years.

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Ashur captured Shomron. He carried Isra’el away captive to Ashur, resettling them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.

7 This came about because the people of Isra’el had sinned againstAdonaitheir God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out from under the domination of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They feared other gods

8 and lived by the customs of the nations thatAdonaihad expelled ahead of the people of Isra’el and by those of the kings of Isra’el.

9 The people of Isra’el secretly did things that were not right, according toAdonaitheir God. They built high places for themselves wherever they lived, from the watchtower to the fortified city.

10 They set up standing-stones and sacred poles for themselves on any high hill and under any green tree.

11 Then they would make offerings on all the high places, like the nationsAdonaihad expelled ahead of them, and would do wicked things to provoke the anger ofAdonai;

12 moreover, they served idols, somethingAdonaihad expressly told them not to do.

13 Adonaihad warned Isra’el and Y’hudah in advance through every prophet and seer, “Turn from your evil ways; and obey mymitzvotand regulations, in accordance with the entireTorahwhich I ordered your ancestors to keep and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

14 Nevertheless, they refused to listen but made themselves as stubborn as their ancestors, who did not put their trust inAdonaitheir God.

15 Thus they rejected his laws; his covenant, which he had made with their ancestors; and the solemn warnings he had given them. Instead they pursued worthless things and became worthless themselves, imitating the nations around them, whomAdonaihad ordered them not to emulate.

16 They abandoned all themitzvotofAdonaitheir God. They made cast metal images for themselves, two calves. They made anasherah. They worshipped the whole army of heaven. They served Ba‘al.

17 They had their sons and daughters pass through fire [as a sacrifice]. They used divination and magic spells. And they gave themselves over to do what was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, thereby provoking him;

18 so thatAdonai, by now very angry with Isra’el, removed them from his sight. None was left except the tribe of Y’hudah alone.

19 (However, neither did Y’hudah obey themitzvotofAdonaitheir God; rather they lived according to the customs of Isra’el.)

20 Yes,Adonaicame to despise all the descendants of Isra’el. He caused them trouble and handed them over to plunderers, until finally he threw them out of his sight.

21 He tore Isra’el away from the house of David. They made Yarov‘am the son of N’vat king; and Yarov‘am drew Isra’el away from followingAdonaiand made them commit a great sin.

22 The people of Isra’el followed the example of all the sins that Yarov‘am had committed and did not turn away from them,

23 untilAdonairemoved Isra’el out of his sight, as he had said he would through all his servants the prophets. Thus Isra’el was carried away captive from their own land to Ashur, and it remains so to this day.

24 The king of Ashur brought people from Bavel, Kutah, ‘Ava, Hamat and S’farvayim and settled them in the cities of Shomron in place of the people of Isra’el; they took possession of Shomron and lived in its cities.

25 When they first came to live there, they did not fearAdonai. ThereforeAdonaisent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26 So they said to the king of Ashur, “The nations you carried away and settled in the cities of Shomron are not familiar with the rules for worshipping the God of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and they are there, killing them; because they’re not familiar with the rules for worshipping the God of the land.”

27 In response, the king of Ashur gave this order: “Take back one of thecohanimyou brought from there. Have him go and live there, and have him teach them the rules for worshipping the God of the land.”

28 So one of thecohanimthey had carried away captive from Shomron came and lived in Beit-El, and he taught them how they should fearAdonai.

29 Nevertheless, every nation made gods of their own and put them in the temples on the high places which the Shomronim had made, every nation in the cities where they lived.

30 Thus the people from Bavel made Sukkot-B’not, those from Kutah made Nergal, those from Hamat made Ashima,

31 the ‘Avim made Nivchaz and Tartak, and the S’farvim burned up their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adramelekh and ‘Anamelekh the gods of S’farvayim.

32 So they fearedAdonai, while at the same time they appointed for themselves priests from among themselves to preside at the high places, and they would sacrifice for them in the temples on the high places.

33 They both fearedAdonaiand served their own gods in the manner customary among the nations from which they had been taken away.

34 To this day they continue to follow their former [pagan] customs. They do not fearAdonai. They do not follow the regulations, rulings,TorahormitzvahwhichAdonaiordered the descendants of Ya‘akov, to whom he gave the name Isra’el,

35 with whomAdonaihad made a covenant and charged them, “Do not fear other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.

36 On the contrary, you are to fearAdonai, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. Worship him, and sacrifice to him.

37 You are to observe forever the laws, rulings,Torahandmitzvahwhich he wrote for you. You are not to fear other gods,

38 and you are not to forget the covenant I made with you. No, you must not fear other gods

39 but must fearAdonaiyour God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.”

40 However, they didn’t listen, but followed their old [pagan] practices.

41 So these nations mixed fearingAdonaiwith serving their carved idols; likewise their children; and to this day, their descendants do the same as their ancestors did.

1 It was in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Isra’el, that Hizkiyahu the son of Achaz, king of Y’hudah, began his reign.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Avi the daughter of Z’kharyah.

3 He did what was right fromAdonai’s perspective, following the example of everything David his ancestor had done.

4 He removed the high places, smashed the standing-stones, cut down theasherahand broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moshe had made; because in those days the people of Isra’el were making offerings to it, calling it N’chushtan.*

5 He put his trust inAdonaithe God of Isra’el; after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Y’hudah, nor had there been among those before him.

6 For he clung toAdonaiand did not leave off following him, but obeyed hismitzvot, whichAdonaihad given Moshe.

7 SoAdonaiwas with him. Wherever he went out to battle, he did well. He rebelled against the king of Ashur and refused to be his vassal.

8 He drove the P’lishtim back to ‘Azah and laid waste to their territory from the watchtower to the fortified city.

9 It was in the fourth year of King Hizkiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Isra’el, that Shalman’eser king of Ashur advanced against Shomron and laid siege to it.

10 At the end of three years they captured it — that is, Shomron was captured in the sixth year of Hizkiyahu, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Isra’el.

11 The king of Ashur carried Isra’el away captive to Ashur and settled them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes.

12 This happened because they did not heed the voice ofAdonaitheir God, but violated his covenant, everything that Moshe the servant ofAdonaihad ordered them to do, and would neither hear it nor do it.

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hizkiyahu, Sancheriv king of Ashur advanced against all the fortified cities of Y’hudah and captured them.

14 Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah sent this message to the king of Ashur at Lakhish: “I have done wrong. If you will go away from me, I will pay whatever penalty you impose on me.” The king of Ashur imposed on Hizkiyahu a penalty of ten tons of silver and a ton of gold.

15 Hizkiyahu gave him all the silver that could be found in the house ofAdonaiand in the treasuries of the royal palace.

16 It was at that time that Hizkiyahu stripped the gold from the doors of the sanctuary ofAdonaiand from the doorposts which Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah himself had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Ashur.

17 From Lakhish the king of Ashur sent Tartan, Rav-Saris and Rav-Shakeh to King Hizkiyahu in Yerushalayim with a large army. They advanced and came to Yerushalayim. Upon arrival, they came and positioned themselves by the aqueduct from the Upper Pool, which is by the road to the Launderers’ Field.

18 They summoned the king, but those answering the call were Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo’ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister.

19 Rav-Shakeh addressed them: “Tell Hizkiyahu: ‘Here is what the great king, the king of Ashur, says: “What makes you so confident?

20 Do you think that mere spoken words constitute strategy and strength for battle? In whom, then, are you trusting when you rebel against me like this?

21 Now look! Relying on Egypt is like using a broken stick as a staff — when you lean on it, it punctures your hand. That’s what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like for anyone who puts his trust in him.

22 But if you tell me, ‘We trust inAdonaiour God,’ then isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hizkiyahu has removed, telling Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, ‘You must worship before this altar in Yerushalayim’?

23 All right, then, make a wager with my lord the king of Ashur: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough riders for them.

24 How then can you repulse even one of my master’s lowest-ranked army officers? Yet you are relying on Egypt for chariots and riders!

25 Do you think I have come up to this place to destroy it withoutAdonai’s approval?Adonaisaid to me, ‘Attack this land, and destroy it’!”’”

26 Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, Shevnah and Yo’ach said to Rav-Shakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it; don’t speak with us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening.”

27 But Rav-Shakeh answered them, “Did my master send me to deliver my message just to your master and yourselves? Didn’t he send me to address the men sitting on the wall, who, like you, are going to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

28 Then Rav-Shakeh stood up and, speaking loudly in Hebrew, said: “Hear what the great king, the king of Ashur, says!

29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hizkiyahu deceive you, because he won’t be able to save you from the power of the king of Ashur.

30 And don’t let Hizkiyahu make you trust inAdonaiby saying, “Adonaiwill surely save us; this city will not be given over to the king of Ashur.”

31 Don’t listen to Hizkiyahu.’ For this is what the king of Ashur says: ‘Make peace with me, surrender to me. Then every one of you can eat from his vine and fig tree and drink the water in his own cistern;

32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land with grain and wine, a land with bread and vineyards, a land with olive trees and honey; so that you can live and not die. So don’t listen to Hizkiyahu; he is only deluding you when he says, “Adonaiwill save us.”

33 Has any god of any nation ever saved his land from the power of the king of Ashur?

34 Where are the gods of Hamat and Arpad? Where are the gods of S’farvayim, Hena and ‘Ivah? Did they save Shomron from my power?

35 Where is the god of any country that has saved its country from my power, so thatAdonaimight be able to save Yerushalayim from my power?’”

36 But the people kept still and didn’t answer him so much as a word; for the king’s order was, “Don’t answer him.”

37 Then Elyakim the son of Hilkiyah, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo’ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister went to Hizkiyahu with their clothes torn and reported to him what Rav-Shakeh had said.

1 On hearing it, King Hizkiyahu tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house ofAdonai.

2 He sent Elyakim, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and the leadingcohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz.

3 They said to him, “This is what Hizkiyahu says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke and disgrace. Children are ready to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth.

4 MaybeAdonaiyour God will hear all the words of Rav-Shakeh, whom his master the king of Ashur has sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke the message whichAdonaiyour God has heard. So pray for the remnant that is left.”

5 When King Hizkiyahu’s servants came to Yesha‘yahu,

6 he said to them, “Tell your master that this is whatAdonaisays: ‘Don’t be afraid of the words you heard the servants of the king of Ashur use to insult me.

7 I will put a spirit in him that will make him hear a rumor and return to his own land; then I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land.’”

8 Rav-Shakeh returned and, having heard that the king of Ashur had left Lakhish, found him making war with Livnah.

9 Then, on hearing it said that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was on his way to fight him, the king of Ashur sent messengers to Hizkiyahu, telling them,

10 “This is what you are to say to Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Yerushalayim will not be handed over to the power of the king of Ashur.”

11 You have heard what the kings of Ashur have done to all lands — they have completely destroyed them. So how will you be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them? No, my ancestors destroyed them — Gozan, Haran, Retzef and the people of ‘Eden who were in Tel’asar.

13 Where is the king of Hamat? the king of Arpad? the king of the city of S’farvayim, of Hena and ‘Ivah?’”

14 Hizkiyahu took the letter from the messengers’ hands and read it. Then Hizkiyahu went up to the house ofAdonaiand spread it out beforeAdonai.

15 Hizkiyahu prayed as follows in the presence ofAdonai: “AdonaiGod of Isra’el, who dwells above thek’ruvim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth.

16 Turn your ear,Adonai, and hear! Open your eyes,Adonai, and see! Hear the words that Sancheriv sent to taunt the living God.

17 It is true,Adonai, that the kings of Ashur have laid waste the nations and their lands

18 and have thrown their gods into the fire. For those were non-gods, merely the product of people’s hands, wood and stone; this is why they could destroy them.

19 Now therefore,Adonaiour God, please save us from his power — so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you areAdonai, God — you only.”

20 Then Yesha‘yahu the son of Amotz sent this message to Hizkiyahu: “Adonaithe God of Isra’el says: ‘You prayed to me against Sancheriv king of Ashur, and I have heard you.’

21 Here isAdonai’s answer concerning him:

‘The virgin daughter of Tziyon

despises you; she laughs you to scorn.

The daughter of Yerushalayim

shakes her head at you.

22 Whom have you taunted and insulted?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and haughtily lifted your eyes?

The Holy One of Isra’el!

23 “‘Through your messengers you tauntedadonai.

You said, “With my many chariots

I have ascended the mountain heights

even in the far reaches of the L’vanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best cypresses.

I reached its remotest corners

and its best forests.

24 I dug [wells] in foreign lands,

and I drank the water.

The soles of my [soldiers’] feet

dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”

25 “‘Haven’t you heard? Long ago I made it;

in antiquity I produced it;

and now I am making it happen:

you are turning fortified cities

into heaps of ruins;

26 while their inhabitants, shorn of power,

are disheartened and ashamed,

weak as grass, frail as plants,

like grass on the rooftops

or grain scorched by the east wind.

27 “‘But I know when you sit, when you leave,

when you enter — and when you rage against me.

28 And because of your rage against me,

because of your pride that has reached my ears,

I am putting my hook in your nose

and my bridle on your lips;

and I will make you return

by the way on which you came.

29 “‘This will be the sign for you: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30 “‘Meanwhile, the remnant

of the house of Y’hudah that has escaped

will again take root downward

and bear fruit upward;

31 for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim,

those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon.

The zeal ofAdonai-Tzva’ot

will accomplish this.’

32 “Therefore this is whatAdonaisays concerning the king of Ashur:

‘He will not come to this city

or even shoot an arrow there;

he will not confront it with a shield

or erect earthworks against it.

33 By the way he came he will return;

he will not come to this city,’

saysAdonai.

34 ‘For I will defend this city and save it, both for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’”

35 That night the angel ofAdonaiwent out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of Ashur. Early the next morning, there they were, all of them, corpses — dead.

36 So Sancheriv king of Ashur left, went and returned to live in Ninveh.

37 One day, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisrokh his god, [his sons] Adramelekh and Shar’etzer struck him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. So his son Esar-Hadon took his place as king.

1 Around this time, Hizkiyahu became ill to the point of death. Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz, came and said to him, “Here is whatAdonaisays: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not live.’”

2 Hizkiyahu turned his face toward the wall and prayed toAdonai:

3 “I plead with you,Adonai, remember now how I have lived before you truly and wholeheartedly, and how I have done what you see as good.” And he cried bitter tears.

4 Before Yesha‘yahu had left the city’s middle courtyard, the word ofAdonaicame to him:

5 “Go back, and tell Hizkiyahu the prince of my people, that this is whatAdonai, the God of David your ancestor, says: ‘I have heard your prayer and seen your tears, and I will heal you. On the third day, you are to go up to the house ofAdonai.

6 I will add fifteen years to your life. Also I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Ashur; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’”

7 Then Yesha‘yahu said, “Prepare a fig-plaster.” They brought it and laid it on the inflammation, so that he would recover.

8 Hizkiyahu said to Yesha‘yahu, “What sign will there be thatAdonaiwill heal me and that I will be able to go up to the house ofAdonaion the third day?”

9 Yesha‘yahu said, “Here is the sign for you fromAdonaithatAdonaiwill do what he said: do you want the shadow [of the sundial] to go forward ten intervals or backward ten intervals?

10 Hizkiyahu answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to go down ten intervals. No, let the shadow return backward ten intervals.”

11 Yesha‘yahu called out toAdonai, and he brought the shadow on the sundial of Achaz ten intervals backward after it had gone down that far.

12 B’rodakh-Bal’adan the son of Bal’adan, king of Bavel, heard that Hizkiyahu had been ill, so he sent a letter and a gift to him.

13 Hizkiyahu listened to [the messengers] and showed them the building where he kept his treasures, including the silver, gold, spices and precious oils; also the building where he kept his armor; and everything in his treasury — there was nothing in his palace or in his entire domain that Hizkiyahu did not show them.

14 Then Yesha‘yahu the prophet came to King Hizkiyahu and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?” Hizkiyahu answered, “They came from a distant country, Bavel.”

15 Yesha‘yahu asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” “They have seen everything in my palace,” said Hizkiyahu. “There isn’t a thing among my treasures that I haven’t shown them.”

16 Yesha‘yahu said to Hizkiyahu, “Hear whatAdonaisays:

17 ‘The day will come when everything in your palace, along with everything your ancestors stored up until today, will be carried off to Bavel. Nothing will be left,’ saysAdonai.

18 ‘They will carry off some of your descendants, your own offspring; and they will be made eunuchs serving in the palace of the king of Bavel.’”

19 Hizkiyahu said to Yesha‘yahu, “The word ofAdonaiwhich you have just told me is good.” He thought, “Isn’t it, though, if peace and truth continue at least through my lifetime?”

20 Other activities of Hizkiyahu, his power and how he built the pool and aqueduct to bring water into the city are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

21 Then Hizkiyahu slept with his ancestors, and M’nasheh his son took his place as king.

1 M’nasheh was twelve years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Heftzibah.

2 He did what was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, following the disgusting practices of the nations whomAdonaihad expelled ahead of the people of Isra’el.

3 For he rebuilt the high places Hizkiyahu his father had destroyed; he erected altars for Ba‘al and made anasherah, as had Ach’av king of Isra’el; and he worshipped all the army of heaven and served them.

4 He erected altars in the house ofAdonai, about whichAdonaihad said, “In Yerushalayim I will put my name.”

5 He erected altars for all the army of heaven in the two courtyards of the house ofAdonai.

6 He made his son pass through the fire [as a sacrifice]. He practiced soothsaying and divination and appointed mediums and persons who used spirit guides. He did much that was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, thus provoking him to anger.

7 He set the carved image for theasherahhe had made in the house concerning whichAdonaihad told David and Shlomo his son, “In this house and in Yerushalayim, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Isra’el, I will put my name forever.

8 Also I will not have the feet of Isra’el wander any longer out of the land which I gave their ancestors — if only they will take heed to obey every order I have given them and live in accordance with all theTorahthat my servant Moshe ordered them to obey.”

9 But they did not take heed; and M’nasheh misled them into doing even worse things than the nationsAdonaihad destroyed ahead of the people of Isra’el.

10 Adonaispoke this message through his servants the prophets:

11 “Because M’nasheh king of Y’hudah has done these disgusting things; because he has done things more wicked than anything the Emori, who were there before him, did; also because with his idols he made Y’hudah sin;

12 therefore here is whatAdonaithe God of Isra’el, says: ‘I am going to bring such calamity on Yerushalayim and Y’hudah that the ears of all who hear of it will tingle.

13 I will measure Yerushalayim with the same measuring cord that I used over Shomron, the same plumbline as for the house of Ach’av. I will scour Yerushalayim clean just as one scours a plate, scouring it and then turning it upside down.

14 I will abandon the remnant of my heritage, delivering them into the power of their enemies — they will become prey and plunder for all their enemies;

15 because they have done what is evil from my perspective and have provoked me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt to this very day.’”

16 Moreover, M’nasheh shed so much innocent blood that he flooded Yerushalayim from one end to the other — this in addition to his sin through which he caused Y’hudah to sin by doing what is evil fromAdonai’s perspective.

17 Other activities of M’nasheh, all his accomplishments and the sin he committed are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

18 Then M’nasheh slept with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the Garden of ‘Uza; and Amon his son took his place as king.

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for two years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Meshulemet the daughter of Harutz from Yotvah.

20 He did what was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, as had M’nasheh his father.

21 He followed entirely the manner of life of his father, serving the idols that his father served and worshipping them.

22 He abandonedAdonai, the God of his ancestors, and did not live inAdonai’s way.

23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own palace.

24 But the people of the land put to death all those who had been part of the conspiracy against King Amon. Then the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in place of him.

25 Other activities of Amon and all he acomplished are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

26 Amon was buried in his tomb in the Garden of Uza, and Yoshiyahu his son took his place as king.

1 Yoshiyahu was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’didah the daughter of ‘Adayah from Botzkat.

2 He did what was right fromAdonai’s perspective, living entirely in the manner of David his ancestor and turning away neither to the right nor to the left.

3 In the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, the king sent Shafan the son of Atzalyahu, the son of Meshulam, the secretary, to the house ofAdonaiafter instructing him,

4 “Go up to Hilkiyahu thecohen hagadol, and have him total the money that has been brought into the house ofAdonai, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

5 Then have them give it to the supervisors of the work being done in the house ofAdonai; they in turn are to use it to pay the laborers in the house ofAdonaito repair damaged places in the building —

6 the carpenters, construction-workers and stonemasons — and to purchase timber and worked stone for doing the repairs on the building.”

7 However, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to spend, because they dealt honestly.

8 Hilkiyahu thecohen hagadolsaid to Shafan the secretary, “I have found the scroll of theTorahin the house ofAdonai.” Hilkiyah gave the scroll to Shafan, who read it.

9 Then Shafan the secretary went back to the king and gave the king this report: “Your servants have poured out the money found in the house and handed it over to the people supervising the work in the house ofAdonai.”

10 Shafan the secretary also told the king, “Hilkiyah thecohen hagadolgave me a scroll.” Then Shafan read it aloud before the king.

11 After the king had heard what was written in the scroll of theTorah, he tore his clothes.

12 Then the king issued this order to Hilkiyah thecohen, Achikam the son of Shafan, ‘Akhbor the son of Mikhayah, Shafan the secretary and ‘Asayah the king’s servant:

13 “Go; and consultAdonaifor me, for the people and for all Y’hudah in regard to what is written in this scroll which has been found. ForAdonaimust be furious at us, since our ancestors did not listen to the words written in this scroll and didn’t do everything written there that concerns us.”

14 So Hilkiyahu thecohen, Achikam, Akhbor, Shafan and ‘Asayah went to Huldah the prophet, the wife of Shalum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harchas, keeper of the wardrobe — she lived in the Second Quarter of Yerushalayim — and spoke with her.

15 She told them, “Adonaithe God of Isra’el says to tell the man who sent you to me

16 thatAdonaisays this: ‘I am going to bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, every word in the scroll the king of Y’hudah has read;

17 because they have abandoned me and offered to other gods, in order to provoke me with everything they do. Therefore my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’

18 But you are to tell the king of Y’hudah, who sent you to consultAdonai, thatAdonaithe God of Isra’el also says this: ‘In regard to the words you have heard,

19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself beforeAdonaiwhen you heard what I said against this place and its inhabitants — that they would become an object of astonishment and cursing — and have torn your clothes and cried before me, I have also heard you, saysAdonai.

20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, you will go to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the calamity I am going to bring on this place.’” So they brought word back to the king.

1 Then the king summoned all the leaders of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, and they assembled with him.

2 The king went up to the house ofAdonaiwith all the men of Y’hudah, all those living in Yerushalayim, thecohanim, the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing everything written in the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house ofAdonai.

3 The king stood on the platform and made a covenant in the presence ofAdonaito live followingAdonai, observing hismitzvot, instructions and regulations wholeheartedly and with all his being, so as to confirm the words of the covenant written in this scroll. All the people stood, pledging themselves to keep the covenant.

4 Then the king ordered Hilkiyahu thecohen hagadol, thecohanimof the second rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the sanctuary ofAdonaiall the articles that had been made for Ba‘al, for theasherahand for the entire army of heaven; and he burned them up outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Beit-El.

5 He deposed the idolatrous priests the kings of Y’hudah had ordained to offer on the high places by the cities of Y’hudah and in the places surrounding Yerushalayim; he also deposed those who offered to Ba‘al, the sun, the moon, the constellations and the whole army of heaven.

6 He took theasherahfrom the house ofAdonaitoVadiKidron outside Yerushalayim and burned it inVadiKidron, stamped the ashes to powder and threw the powder onto the burial-ground for the common people.

7 He smashed the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house ofAdonai, where the women also wove garments for theasherah.

8 He removed thecohanimfrom the cities of Y’hudah; then, from Geva to Be’er-Sheva, he desecrated the high places where thecohanimhad been making offerings. He also smashed the High Places of the Gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Y’hoshua the governor of the city, on the left as one enters the city.

9 But although thecohanimwho had been at the high places did not come up to the altar ofAdonaiin Yerushalayim, nevertheless they did sharematzahwith their kinsmen.

10 He desecrated the Tofet fire pit in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, so that no one could cause his son or daughter to pass through fire [as a sacrifice] to Molekh.

11 He confiscated the horses which the kings of Y’hudah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the house ofAdonainear the room of the officer N’tan-Melekh, in the side-courtyard; and he burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 The king smashed the altars on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Y’hudah had made, and the altars which M’nasheh had made in the two courtyards of the house ofAdonai. He broke them into pieces and threw the rubble intoVadiKidron.

13 The king desecrated the high places facing Yerushalayim south of the Mount of Destruction, which Shlomo the king of Isra’el had built for ‘Ashtoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, K’mosh the abomination of Mo’av and Milkom the abomination of the people of ‘Amon.

14 He smashed the standing-stones, chopped down the sacred poles and covered their remains with human bones.

15 He smashed the altar that was at Beit-El and the high place made by Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who caused Isra’el to sin. Yes, he smashed that altar and the high place; he burned the high place, stamped the ashes to powder, and burned up theasherah.

16 Then, as Yoshiyahu was turning around, he noticed the burial caves that were there on the mountain; so he sent and had the bones taken out of the burial caves and burned them on the altar, thus desecrating it, in keeping with the word ofAdonaiwhich the man of God had proclaimed, foretelling that these things would happen.

17 Then he asked, “This monument here that I’m looking at, what is it?” The men of the city told him, “It marks the burial cave of the man of God who came from Y’hudah and foretold the very things you have done to the altar of Beit-El.”

18 He replied, “Let him be; no one is to move his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Shomron.

19 Yoshiyahu also removed all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Isra’el had made in order to provoke [Adonai] to anger, and treated them the same as in Beit-El.

20 He put to death all the priests of those high places on the altars there, then burned human bones on them. Finally he returned to Yerushalayim.

21 The king issued this order to all the people: “ObservePesachtoAdonaiyour God, as written in this scroll of the covenant.”

22 ForPesachhad not been so observed since the days when the judges ruled Isra’el — not during the times of any of the kings of Isra’el or of the kings of Y’hudah.

23 But in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu thisPesachwas observed toAdonaiin Yerushalayim.

24 Yoshiyahu got rid of the mediums and the people using spirit guides, as well as the household gods, the idols and all the disgusting things spotted anywhere in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. He did this in order to establish the words of theTorahwritten in the scroll Hilkiyahu thecohenhad found in the house ofAdonai.

25 No previous king was like him; because he turned toAdonaiwith all his heart, with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all theTorahof Moshe; nor did any king like him arise afterwards.

26 Nevertheless,Adonaidid not turn away from his fiercely raging, furious anger that burned against Y’hudah because of all the things M’nasheh had done to provoke him.

27 Adonaisaid, “Just as I removed Isra’el, I will also remove Y’hudah out of my sight; and I will reject this city, which I chose, Yerushalayim, and the house concerning which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”

28 Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

29 During his time Pharaoh N’khoh king of Egypt went up toward the Euphrates River to attack the king of Ashur. King Yoshiyahu went out to oppose him; but at Megiddo, Pharaoh spotted Yoshiyahu and killed him.

30 His servants carried his dead body from Megiddo to Yerushalayim in a chariot and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Y’ho’achaz the son of Yoshiyahu, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

31 Y’ho’achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah.

32 He did what was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.

33 Pharaoh N’khoh imprisoned him at Rivlah in the land of Hamat, so that he would not be able to rule in Yerushalayim. He also imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-quarter tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold.

34 Then Pharaoh N’khoh made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in place of Yoshiyahu his father and changed his name to Y’hoyakim. He also carried Y’ho’achaz off to Egypt, where he died.

35 Y’hoyakim remitted the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but in order to pay the money Pharaoh demanded, he had to levy a tax on the land. He taxed the people of the land, each according to his means, to pay the silver and gold to Pharaoh N’khoh.

36 Y’hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Z’vudah the daughter of P’dayah, from Rumah.

37 He did what was evil from the perspective ofAdonai, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.

1 It was in Y’hoyakim’s time that N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel invaded. Y’hoyakim became his vassal for three years, but then he turned against him and rebelled.

2 Adonaisent against him raiding parties from the Kasdim, Aram, Mo’av and the people of ‘Amon; he sent them against Y’hudah to destroy it, in keeping with the word ofAdonaiwhich he had spoken through his servants the prophets.

3 Yes, it was atAdonai’s order that this happened to Y’hudah, in order to remove them from his sight because of the sins of M’nasheh and all he had done,

4 and also because of the innocent blood he had shed — for he had flooded Yerushalayim with innocent blood, andAdonaiwas unwilling to forgive.

5 Other activities of Y’hoyakim and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.

6 Then Y’hoyakim slept with his ancestors, and Y’hoyakhin his son took his place as king.

7 The king of Egypt did not leave his own land any more, because the king of Bavel had captured all the territory of the king of Egypt between theVadiof Egypt and the Euphrates River.

8 Y’hoyakhin was eighteen years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months. His mother’s name was N’chushta the daughter of Elnatan, from Yerushalayim.

9 He did what was evil fromAdonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father had done.

10 It was then that the officers of N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched on Yerushalayim and laid siege to the city.

11 N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel himself went to the city while it was under siege;

12 and Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah went out to meet the king of Bavel — he, his mother, and his servants, princes and officers; and the king of Bavel took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

13 He also carried away from there all the treasures in the house ofAdonaiand the treasures in the royal palace. He cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Shlomo king of Isra’el had made in the temple ofAdonai, asAdonaihad said would happen.

14 He carried all Yerushalayim away captive — all the princes, all the bravest soldiers — 10,000 captives; also all the craftsmen and metalworkers. No one was left but the poorest people of the land.

15 Y’hoyakhin he carried off to Bavel; likewise he carried off the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers and the main leaders of the land from Yerushalayim into captivity in Bavel.

16 All the strong men — 7,000 of them, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths, all of them strong and trained for war — the king of Bavel brought captive to Bavel.

17 The king of Bavel made Matanyah, Y’hoyakhin’s father’s brother, king in place of Y’hoyakhin and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu.

18 Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah.

19 He did what was evil from the perspective ofAdonai, following the example of everything Y’hoyakim had done.

20 And it was because ofAdonai’s anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y’hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence.

Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

1 so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side.

2 The city remained under siege into the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu.

3 On the ninth day of the [fourth] month, when the famine in the city was so severe that there was no food for the people of the land,

4 they broke through into the city. All the soldiers [fled] by night through the gate between the two walls, near the king’s garden. Because the Kasdim were surrounding the city, the king took the route through the ‘Aravah.

5 But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of the king and overtook him on the plains near Yericho; all his troops deserted him.

6 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel in Rivlah, where they passed judgment on him.

7 They slaughtered his sons before his eyes. Then they put out Tzidkiyahu’s eyes, bound him in chains and carried him off to Bavel.

8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N’vukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, N’vuzar’adan, the commander of the guard and an officer of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim.

9 He burned down the house ofAdonai, the royal palace and all the houses in Yerushalayim — every notable person’s house he burned to the ground.

10 The whole army of the Kasdim, who were with the commander of the guard, broke down the walls of Yerushalayim on every side.

11 N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard then deported the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Bavel and the rest of the common people.

12 But the commander of the guard left behind some of the poor people of the land to be vineyard-workers and farmers.

13 The Kasdim smashed the bronze columns in the house ofAdonai, also the trolleys and bronze Sea that were in the house ofAdonai, and carried their bronze to Bavel.

14 They also took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, pans, and all the bronze articles that had been used for worship.

15 The commander of the guard took the censers, the sprinkling bowls, everything made of gold and everything made of silver.

16 The bronze in the two columns, the one Sea and the bases, all of which Shlomo had made for the house ofAdonai, was more than could be weighed.

17 The height of one column was thirty-one-and-a-half feet; on it was a capital of bronze five-and-a-quarter feet high, with netting and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze; the second column was similar, also with netting.

18 The commander of the guard took [prisoner] S’rayah the chiefcohen, Z’kharyah the second-rankingcohenand three doorkeepers.

19 From the city he took an official in charge of the soldiers, five close associates of the king who had been found in the city, the army commander’s secretary in charge of military conscription, and sixty of the common people found in the city.

20 N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Bavel in Rivlah.

21 There in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, the king of Bavel had them put to death. Thus Y’hudah was carried away captive out of his land.

22 N’vukhadnetzar king of Babylon appointed G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, governor over the people remaining behind in the land of Y’hudah after he left.

23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G’dalyahu governor, they came to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah — Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyah, Yochanan the son of Kareach, S’rayah the son of Tanchumet the N’tofati and Ya’azanyahu the son of the Ma‘akhati — they and their men.

24 Taking an oath, G’dalyahu said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Kasdim. Just live in the land and serve the king of Bavel, and things will go well for you.”

25 But in the seventh month Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyah, the son of Elishama, of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated G’dalyah and the Judeans and Kasdim who were with him in Mitzpah.

26 In the wake of this, all kinds of people, great and small, as well as the army officers, set out and went to Egypt; because they were afraid of the Kasdim.

27 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Eveel-M’rodakh began his reign as king of Bavel; and in his first year he commuted the sentence of Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah and released him from prison.

28 He treated him with kindness and gave him a throne higher than those of the other kings there with him in Bavel.

29 So Y’hoyakhin no longer had to wear prison clothes; moreover, he was provided with food as long as he lived;

30 and he was granted a daily allowance by the king to spend on his other needs for as long as he lived.