saying: 7'Be strong and of, good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there is a Greater with us than with him 8 with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles.' And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
9After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jeru- salem— now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him — unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, say- ing: 10Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria: Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide the siege in Jerusalem? "Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying: The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of tho king of Assyria? 12Hath not the same Ilezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah anda Jerusalem, saying: Ye shall worship before one altar, and upon it shall ye offer? 13Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all tho peoples of the lands? Wore the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand? "Who was there among all the gods of those na- tions which my fathers utterly de- stroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? l*Now therefore* let not Hozekiah beguile you, nor persuade you after this manner, neither believe ye him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers; how much loss shall your God deliver you out of my hand?'
SECOND CHRONICLES 16And his servants spoke yet more against the LORD God, and against His servant Hezekiah. 17He wrote also a letter, to taunt the LORD, the God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying: 'As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah de- liver His people out of my hand.' 18And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to terrify them, and to affright them that they might take the city. ^Anc they spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
20And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven, 21 And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to^his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. ^Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sen- nacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all, and guided them on every side. ^And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. 24In those days Hezekiah was sick even unto death; and he prayed unto the LORD; and He spoke unto him, and gave him a sign. 26But Hezekiah rendered not according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
^Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jeru- salem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah, 27And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour; and he provided him treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of goodly vessels; ^store-houses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and flocks in folds. 29Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very much substance. 30This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. 31Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.
32Now the rest of the acts of Heze- kiah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ^And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhab- itants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead. O O Manasseh was twelve years old ^^ when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years m Jeru- salem. 2And he did that wluch was evil in the sight of the LORD, after SECOND CHRONICLES the abominations of the nations, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 8For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4And he built altars in the house of the LORD, where- of the LORD said: 'In Jerusalem shall My name be for ever.' 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practised soothsaying, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and appointed them that divined by a ghost or a familiar spirit; he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him. 7And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of Grod, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son: 'In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever; 8neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers; if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordi- nances by the hand of Moses.' 9And Manasseh made Judah and the inhab- itants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did the nations, whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel, wAud the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed. uWhoretore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Ma~ nasseh with hooka, and bound htm with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. wAnd when he was in distress he besought the LORD his God, anc humbled himself greatly before th< God of his fathers. 13And he prayec unto Him; and He was entreated ol him, and heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem intc his kingdom. Then Manasseh kne\v that the LORD He was God.
14Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate- and he com- passed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height; and he put cap- tains of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jeru- salem, and cast them out of the city. 16And he built up the altar of the LORD, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace- offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. "Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, but only unto the LORD their God.
18Now the rest of the acts of Manas- seh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. "His prayer also, and how [God] was entreated of him, and all ius sin and his transgression, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Aeherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself; behold, they are written in the history of the seers. *°8o Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried Mm in hiy own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
SECOND CHRONICLES 21Amon was twenty and two year old when he began to reign; and h reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22Anc he did that which was evil in th sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh hi father; and Amon sacrificed unto a the graven images which Manasse his father had made, and served them 23 And he humbled not himself befor the LOED, as Manasseh his father ha humbled himself; but this same Amon became guilty more and more. ^Anc his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house 25But the people of the land slew a! them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people ^of the lan<~ made Josiah his son king in his stead. QA Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reignec thirty and one years in Jerusalem 2And he did that which was right in the eyes of the LOED, and walked ii the ways of David his father, anc turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of Davic his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, 4And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images, that were on high above them, he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the mplten images, he broke m pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. 6And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. ^And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their axes round about. 7And ho broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun- images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
8Now 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 LOED his God. 9And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benja- min, and they returned to Jerusalem 10And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen that had the over- sight of the house of the LORD, and the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD gave it to mend and repair the house: "even to the carpen- ters and to the Guilders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12And the men did the work faithfully; and the overseers of ihem were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathitcs, to preside over it; and other of the Levites, all that lad skill with instruments of music. 3Also they were over the bearera of mrdens, and presided over all that id the work in every manner of eryice; and of the Levites there were cribcs, and officers, and porters. 14And when they brought out the monoy that was brought into the ouso of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest mud the book of the Law of the IX>HD SECOND CHRONICLES given by Moses. 16And Hilkiah an- swered and said to Shaphan the scribe: 'I have found the book of the Law in the house of the LORD.' And Hil- kiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 16And Shapha$ carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word unto the king, saying: 'All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. 17And they have poured out the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen.' 18And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying: 'Hilkiah the priest hath de- livered me a book.' And Shaphan read therein before the king. 19And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Law, that he rent his clothes. 20And the king com- manded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying: 21 i Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that 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 UB, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according unto all that is written in this book.'
**So Hilkiah, and they whom tho king [Iiad commanded], went to" Hul- dah the prophetess, tho wife of Shal- lum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of tho wardrobe — now she dwelt in Jerusalem in tho second quarter— and they spoke to her to that effect. ^And she said unto thorn: 'Thus Sttith the LORD, the God of Israel: Tell yo the man that sont you unto me: **Thus saith tho LORD: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thorepf, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah; 2fibecause they have forsaken Me, and have offered unto other gods, that they might provoke Me with all the works of their hands; therefore is My wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. 26But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him- Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, 27because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before Me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. 28Bohold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all tho evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon tho inhabitants there- of.' And thoy brought back word un- to the king.
29Thon the king sent and gathered together all the eldors of Judah and Jerusalem. 80And the king wont up to the houso of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and tho inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Lovites, and all tho people, both groat and small; and he road m their oars all the words of tho book of the cove- nant that was found in tho house of the LOUD. 8IAnd tho king stood in his placo, and mode a covenant before tho LORD, to walk aftor tho LORD, and to keep His commandments, ana His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to iw?,rform tho words of the covenant that wero written in this book.
. * SECOND CHRONICLES he caused all that were found in Jeru- salem and Benjamin to stand to it And the inhabitants of Jerusalem die according to the covenant of God the God of their fathers. 33And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained tc the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve even to serve the LOED their God All his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
And Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem; and they killed the passover lamb on the four- teenth day of the first month. 2And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD. 3And he said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, that were holy unto the LORD: 'Put the holy ark in the house which Sol- omon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders; now serve the LORD your God, and His people Israel. 4And prepare ye after your fathers' houses by your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. 5And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of your brethren the children of the people, and [let there be for each] a portion of a fathers' house of the Levites. 6And kill the passover lamb, and sanctify your- selves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.'
7And Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover- offerings, unto all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the king's substance. 8And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Le- vites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehi- el, the rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover- offerings two thousand and six hun- dred [small cattle], and three hun- dred oxen. 9Conaniah also, and Shem- aiah and Nethanel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand [small cattle], and five hun- dred oxen.
10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, accord- ing to the king's commandment. llAnd they killed the passover lamb, and the priests dashed [the blood, which they received] of their hand, and the Levites flayed them. 12And n removed the portions that were e burnt, that they might give them to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to present unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. 13And they roasted the passover with fire accord- ing to the ordinance; and the holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons^ and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. 14And afterward they pre- pared for themselves, and for the priests; because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the portions that were to be burnt and ihe fat until night; therefore the Le- vites prepared for themselves, and br the priests the sons of Aaron. 8And 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 SECOND CHRONICLES seer; and the porters were at every gate; they needed not to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
16So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep ^ the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings' upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah. "And the children of Israel that were present kept the passovor at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18And there was no passover like to that kept in Is- rael from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Joaiah was this passover kept.
20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Car- chemish by the Euphrates -and Josiah went out against him. 3lBut he sent ambassadors to him, saying: 'What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house whorc- with I have war; and God hath given command to speed me; forbear thoe from meddling with God, who is with me, that lie destroy thoe not.' ^Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, tibat ho might fight with Winy and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. **And the archers nhot at king Joaiah; and the king said to his servants: 1 Have me away; for I am sore wound- ed/ M8o his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in tho second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 36And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel; and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. 2GNow the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the Law of the LORD, 27and his acts, first and last, behold, ^they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Oft Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made, him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. 2Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necp took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
Mehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and te reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. ^Against hSn came up Nobuchadnozzar king of Babylon, and bound him in festers, to carry him to Babylon* Nebu- chadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of tho LOB& to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon, 8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which ho did, and that which wa& found in him, behold, they aro written in tho boot SECOND CHRONICLES of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
9Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months ana ten days in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 10And at the return of the year king Nebu- chadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LOED, and made Zede- kiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
^Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; 12and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LOED his God; he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. 13And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD, the God of Israel. "Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, transgressed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of the LOBD which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15And the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent to them by His messengers, send- ing betimes and often; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place; I6but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath: of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.
"Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maid- en, old man* or hoary-headed; He gave them all into his hand. 18And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treas- ures of the king, and of Ms princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon: and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; 21to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had been paid her sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept sab- bath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.