12At that time, King Berodach-cbaladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent [envoys with] a letter and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness. 13d-Hezekiah heard about them-d and he showed them all his treasurehouse—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fragrant oil—and his armory, and everything that was to be found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 14Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah. “What,” he demanded of him, “did those men say to you? Where have they come to you from?” “They have come,” Hezekiah replied, “from a far country, from Babylon.” 15Next he asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” And Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything that is in my palace. There was nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: 17A time is coming when everything in your palace which your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will remain behind, said the LORD. 18And some of your sons, your own issue, whom you will have fathered, will be taken to serve as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19Hezekiah declared to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “It means that e-safety is assured for-e my time.”
20The other events of Hezekiah’s reign, and all his exploits, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought the water into the city, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 21Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2He did what was displeasing to the LORD, following the abhorrent practices of the nations that the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites. 3He rebuilt the shrines that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal and made a sacred post, as King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the host of heaven and worshiped them, 4and he built altars for them in the House of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “I will establish My name in Jerusalem.” 5He built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the House of the LORD. 6He consigned his son to the fire; he practiced soothsaying and divination, and consulted ghosts and familiar spirits; he did much that was displeasing to the LORD, to vex Him. 7The sculptured image of Asherah that he made he placed in the House concerning which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this House and in Jerusalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My name forever. 8And I will not again cause the feet of Israel to wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, if they will but faithfully observe all that I have commanded them—all the Teachings with which My servant Moses charged them.” 9But they did not obey, and Manasseh led them astray to do greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. 10Therefore the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets: 11“Because King Manasseh of Judah has done these abhorrent things— he has outdone in wickedness all that the Amorites did before his time— and because he led Judah to sin with his fetishes, 12assuredly, thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that both ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle. 13I will a-apply to Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the weights of the House of Ahab;-a I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a dish and turns it upside down. 14And I will cast off the remnant of My own people and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They shall be plunder and prey to all their enemies 15because they have done what is displeasing to Me and have been vexing Me from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt to this day.”
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
