16Moreover, Manasseh put so many innocent persons to death that he filled Jerusalem [with blood] from end to end—besides the sin he committed in causing Judah to do what was displeasing to the LORD.
17The other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all his actions, and the sins he committed, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 18Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza; and his son Amon succeeded him as king.
19Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20He did what was displeasing to the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. 21He walked in all the ways of his father, worshiping the fetishes which his father had worshiped and bowing down to them. 22He forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not follow the way of the LORD.
23Amon’s courtiers conspired against him; and they killed the king in his palace. 24But the people of the land put to death all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his stead. 25The other events of Amon’s reign [and] his actions are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 26He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2He did what was pleasing to the LORD and he followed all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not deviate to the right or to the left.
3In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam to the House of the LORD, saying, 4“Go to the high priest Hilkiah and let him weigha the silver that has been deposited in the House of the LORD, which the guards of the threshold have collected from the people. 5And let it be delivered to the overseers of the work who are in charge at the House of the LORD, that they in turn may pay it out to the workmen that are in the House of the LORD, for the repair of the House: 6to the carpenters, the laborers, and the masons, and for the purchase of wood and quarried stones for repairing the House. 7However, no check is to be kept on them for the silver that is delivered to them, for they deal honestly.”
8Then the high priest Hilkiah said to the scribe Shaphan, “I have found a scroll of the Teaching in the House of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, who read it. 9The scribe Shaphan then went to the king and reported to the king: “Your servants have melted down the silver that was deposited in the House, and they have delivered it to the overseers of the work who are in charge at the House of the LORD.” 10The scribe Shaphan also told the king, “The high priest Hilkiah has given me a scroll”; and Shaphan read it to the king.
11When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Teaching, he rent his clothes. 12And the king gave orders to the priest Hilkiah, and to Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Michaiah, the scribe Shaphan, and Asaiah the king’s minister: 13“Go, inquire of the LORD on my behalf, and on behalf of the people, and on behalf of all Judah, concerning the words of this scroll that has been found. For great indeed must be the wrath of the LORD that has been kindled against us, because our fathers did not obey the words of this scroll to do all that has been prescribed for us.”
14So the priest Hilkiah, and Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah—the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe—who was living in Jerusalem in the Mishneh,b and they spoke to her. 15She responded: “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: Say to the man who sent you to me: 16Thus said the LORD: I am going to bring disaster upon this place and its inhabitants, in accordance with all the words of the scroll which the king of Judah has read. 17Because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods and vexed Me with all their deeds, My wrath is kindled against this place and it shall not be quenched. 18But say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD: Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: As for the words which you have heard— 19because your heart was softened and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I decreed against this place and its inhabitants—that it will become a desolation and a curse—and because you rent your clothes and wept before Me, I for My part have listened—declares the LORD. 20Assuredly, I will gather you to your fathers and you will be laid in your tomb in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the disaster which I will bring upon this place.” So they brought back the reply to the king.
23 At the king’s summons, all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem assembled before him. 2The king went up to the House of the LORD, together with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and prophets—all the people, young and old. And he read to them the entire text of the covenant scroll which had been found in the House of the LORD. 3The king stood a-by the pillar-a and solemnized the covenant before the LORD: that they would follow the LORD and observe His commandments, His injunctions, and His laws with all their heart and soul; that they would fulfill all the terms of this covenant as inscribed upon the scroll. And all the people b-entered into-b the covenant.
4Then the king ordered the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second rank, and the guards of the threshold to bring out of the Temple of the LORD all the objects made for Baal and Asherahc and all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fieldsd of Kidron, and he removed the ashes to Bethel. 5He suppressed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed e-to make offerings-e at the shrines in the towns of Judah and in the environs of Jerusalem, and those who made offerings to Baal, to the sun and moon and constellations—all the host of heaven. 6He brought out the [image of] Asherah from the House of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and burned it in the Kidron Valley; he beat it to dust and scattered its dust over the burial ground of the common people. 7He tore down the cubicles of the male prostitutes in the House of the LORD, at the place where the women wove coveringsd for Asherah.
8He brought all the priests from the towns of Judah [to Jerusalem] and defiled the shrines where the priests had been making offerings—from Geba to Beer-sheba. He also demolished the shrines of the gates, which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city prefect—d-which were on a person’s left [as he entered] the city gate.-d 9f-The priests of the shrines, however, did not ascend the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread along with their kinsmen.-f 10He also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, so that no one might consign his son or daughter to the fire of Molech. 11He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, g-at the entrance-g of the House of the LORD, near the chamber of the eunuch Nathan-melech, which was in the precincts.d He burned the chariots of the sun. 12And the king tore down the altars made by the kings of Judah on the roof by the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars made by Manasseh in the two courts of the House of the LORD. He h-removed them quickly from there-h and scattered their rubble in the Kidron Valley. 13The king also defiled the shrines facing Jerusalem, to the south of the i-Mount of the Destroyer,-i which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.j 14He shattered their pillars and cut down their sacred posts and covered their sites with human bones.
15As for the altar in Bethel [and] the shrine made by Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin—that altar, too, and the shrine as well, he tore down. He burned down the
