The Bible

³Select the best and fittest of your master's sons, set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house." ⁴But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, "Behold, the two kings didn't stand before him! Then how shall we stand?" ⁵He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who raised the children, sent to Jehu, saying, "We are your servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man king. You do what is good in your eyes." ⁶Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, "If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time." Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.

⁷When the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and killed them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel.

⁸A messenger came, and told him, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons." He said, "Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning." ⁹In the morning he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, "You are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master, and killed him; but who struck all these?

¹⁰Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of ForeverOne, which ForeverOne spoke concerning the house of Ahab. For ForeverOne has done what he spoke by his servant Elijah." ¹¹So Jehu struck all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, with all his great men, his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

¹²He arose and departed, and went to Samaria. As he was at the shearing house of the shepherds on the way, ¹³Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, "Who are you?" They answered, "We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen." ¹⁴He said, "Take them alive!" They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, even forty-two men. He didn't leave any of them.

¹⁵When he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" Jehonadab answered, "It is." "If it is, give me your hand." He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.

¹⁶He said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for ForeverOne." So they made him ride in his chariot.

¹⁷When he came to Samaria, he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of ForeverOne, which he spoke to Elijah.

¹⁸Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much.

¹⁹Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let none be absent; for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live." But Jehu did it in subtlety, intending that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

²⁰Jehu said, "Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal!" They proclaimed it.

²¹Jehu sent through all Israel; and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that didn't come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another.

²²He said to him who was over the vestry, "Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Baal!" He brought robes out to them.

²³Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshippers of Baal, "Search, and look that there are here with you none of the servants of ForeverOne, but the worshippers of Baal only." ²⁴They went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed him eighty men outside, and said, "If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, [he who lets him go], his life shall be for the life of him." ²⁵As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, "Go in, and kill them! Let none escape." They struck them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains threw them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.

²⁶They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them.

²⁷They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day.

²⁸Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

²⁹However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, Jehu didn't depart from after them, [to wit], the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

³⁰ForeverOne said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing what is right in my eyes, [and] have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." ³¹But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of ForeverOne, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.

³²In those days ForeverOne began to cut off from Israel; and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel; ³³from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

³⁵Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.

³⁶The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

2 Kings Chapter 11

¹Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the offspring royal.

²But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, [and put them] in the bedroom; and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain; ³He was with her hidden in the house of ForeverOne six years. Athaliah reigned over the land.

⁴In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of ForeverOne; and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of ForeverOne, and showed them the king's son.

⁵He commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house; ⁶A third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So you shall keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier.

⁷The two groups of you, even all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the house of ForeverOne around the king.

⁸You shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. Be with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in." ⁹The captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

¹⁰The priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David's, which were in the house of ForeverOne.

¹¹The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king.

¹²Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and [gave him] the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, "Long live the king!" ¹³When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard [and of] the people, she came to the people into the house of ForeverOne: ¹⁴and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!" ¹⁵Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, "Bring her out between the ranks. Kill him who follows her with the sword." For the priest said, "Don't let her be slain in the house of ForeverOne." ¹⁶So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses' entry to the king's house. She was slain there.

¹⁷Jehoiada made a covenant between ForeverOne and the king and the people, that they should be ForeverOne's people; between the king also and the people.

¹⁸All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the house of ForeverOne.

¹⁹He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of ForeverOne, and came by the road of the gate of the guard to the king's house. He sat on the throne of the kings.

²⁰So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. Athaliah they had slain with the sword at the king's house.

²¹Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

2 Kings Chapter 12

¹In the seventh year of Jehu began Jehoash to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

²Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

³However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

⁴Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of ForeverOne, in current money, the money of the persons for whom each man is rated, and all the money that it comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of ForeverOne, ⁵let the priests take it to them, every man from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach shall be found." ⁶But in the twenty-third year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.

⁷Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the [other] priests, and said to them, "Why don't you repair the breaches of the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for the breaches of the house." ⁸The priests consented that they should take no [more] money from the people, neither repair the breaches of the house.

⁹But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of ForeverOne: and the priests who kept the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of ForeverOne.

¹⁰When they saw that there was much money in the chest the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of ForeverOne.

¹¹They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of ForeverOne: and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, who worked on the house of ForeverOne, ¹²and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the breaches of the house of ForeverOne, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

¹³But there were not made for the house of ForeverOne cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of ForeverOne; ¹⁴for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired with it the house of ForeverOne.

¹⁵Moreover they didn't demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully.

¹⁶The money for the trespass offerings, and the money for the sin offerings, was not brought into the house of ForeverOne: it was the priests'.

¹⁷Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

¹⁸Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of ForeverOne, and of the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁰His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, [on the way] that goes down to Silla.

²¹For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 13

¹In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] seventeen years.

²He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he didn't depart from it.

³The anger of ForeverOne was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually.

⁴Jehoahaz begged ForeverOne, and ForeverOne listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.

⁵(ForeverOne gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.

⁶Nevertheless they didn't depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah remained in Samaria as well.) ⁷For he didn't leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.

⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

⁹Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his place.

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] sixteen years.

¹¹He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne; he didn't depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; but he walked in them.

¹²Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

¹³Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died: and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" ¹⁵Elisha said to him, "Take bow and arrows;" and he took to him bow and arrows.

¹⁶He said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow;" and he put his hand [on it]. Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.

¹⁷He said, "Open the window eastward;" and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" and he shot. He said, "ForeverOne's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them." ¹⁸He said, "Take the arrows;" and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground;" and he struck three times, and stopped.

¹⁹The man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, whereas now you shall strike Syria just three times." ²⁰Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

²¹As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band [of raiders]; and they threw the man into the tomb of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

²²Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

²³But ForeverOne was gracious to them, had compassion on them and favoured them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would not destroy them, nor send them from his presence as yet.

²⁴Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place.

²⁵Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Joash struck him, and recovered the cities of Israel.

2 Kings Chapter 14

¹In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel began Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah to reign.

²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.

³He did what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne, yet not like David his father: he did according to all that Joash his father had done.

⁴However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

⁵As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father: ⁶but the children of the murderers he didn't put to death; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, as ForeverOne commanded, saying, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin." ⁷He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.

⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face." ⁹Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son [to be his] wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.

¹⁰You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?'" ¹¹But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

¹²Judah was defeated by Israel; and they fled every man to his tent.

¹³Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

¹⁴He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of ForeverOne, and in the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

¹⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

¹⁶Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

¹⁷Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.

¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

¹⁹They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there.

²⁰They brought him on horses; and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

²¹All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.

²²He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, [and reigned] forty-one years.

²⁴He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne: he didn't depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁵He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of ForeverOne, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath Hepher.

²⁶For ForeverOne saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for there was none shut up nor left at large, neither was there any helper for Israel.

²⁷ForeverOne didn't say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, [which had belonged] to Judah, for Israel, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²⁹Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 15

¹In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.

²He was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

³He did what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

⁴However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

⁵ForeverOne struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king's son was over the household, judging the people of the land.

⁶Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁷Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

⁸In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria for six months.

⁹He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, as his fathers had done: he didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

¹⁰Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place.

¹¹Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹²This was the word of ForeverOne which he spoke to Jehu, saying, "Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." So it came to pass.

¹³Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned for a month in Samaria.

¹⁴Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him, and reigned in his place.

¹⁵Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹⁶Then Menahem struck Tiphsah, and all who were there, and its borders, from Tirzah: because they didn't open to him, therefore he struck it; and all the women in it who were with child he ripped up.

¹⁷In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, [and reigned] ten years in Samaria.

¹⁸He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne: he didn't depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

¹⁹There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria; and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

²⁰Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and didn't stay there in the land.

²¹Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²²Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

²³In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] two years.

²⁴He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne: he didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁵Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, and struck him in Samaria, in the castle of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him, and reigned in his place.

²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

²⁷In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years.

²⁸He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne: he didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁹In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel Beth Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.

³⁰Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him, and killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

³¹Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

³²In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.

³³He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.

³⁴He did what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

³⁵However the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of ForeverOne.

³⁶Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

³⁷In those days ForeverOne began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.

³⁸Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 16

¹In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.

²Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he didn't do what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne his God, like David his father.

³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom ForeverOne threw out from before the children of Israel.

⁴He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

⁶At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and lived there, to this day.

⁷So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me." ⁸Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of ForeverOne, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a gift to the king of Assyria.

⁹The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried [the people of] it captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.

¹⁰King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and its pattern, according to all its workmanship.

¹¹Urijah the priest built an altar: according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it against the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus.

¹²When the king returned from Damascus, the king saw the altar. The king approached the altar, and went up.

¹³He burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, on the altar.

¹⁴The bronze altar, which was before ForeverOne, he brought from the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of ForeverOne, and put it on the north side of his altar.

¹⁵King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." ¹⁶Urijah the priest did so, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.

¹⁸The covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry outside, turned he to the house of ForeverOne, because of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁰Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 17

¹In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years.

²He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

³Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.

⁴The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

⁵Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷Because the children of Israel had sinned against ForeverOne their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, ⁸and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom ForeverOne threw out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.

⁹The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against ForeverOne their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; ¹⁰and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree; ¹¹and there they burned incense in all the high places, just like the nations whom ForeverOne had carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke ForeverOne to anger; ¹²and they served idols, of which ForeverOne had said to them, "You shall not do this thing." ¹³Yet ForeverOne testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets." ¹⁴Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in ForeverOne their God.

¹⁵They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were around them, concerning whom ForeverOne had commanded them that they should not do like them.

¹⁶They forsook all the commandments of ForeverOne their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.

¹⁷They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, to provoke him to anger.

¹⁸Therefore ForeverOne was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

¹⁹Also Judah didn't keep the commandments of ForeverOne their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

²⁰ForeverOne rejected all the offspring of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had put them out of his sight.

²¹For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following ForeverOne, and made them sin a great sin.

²²The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn't depart from them; ²³until ForeverOne removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

²⁴The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and lived in the cities of it.

²⁵So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn't fear ForeverOne: therefore ForeverOne sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

²⁶Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don't know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land." ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land." ²⁸So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear ForeverOne.

²⁹However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.

³⁰The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

³²So they feared ForeverOne, and made to them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

³³They feared ForeverOne, and served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

³⁴To this day they do what they did before: they don't fear ForeverOne, neither do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or the law or the commandment which ForeverOne commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; ³⁵with whom ForeverOne had made a covenant, and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; ³⁶but you shall fear ForeverOne, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him.

³⁷The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore. You shall not fear other gods.

³⁸You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall you fear other gods.

³⁹But you shall fear ForeverOne your God; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." ⁴⁰However they did not listen, but did what they did before.

⁴¹So these nations feared ForeverOne, and served their engraved images. Their children likewise, and their children's children, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

2 Kings Chapter 18

¹Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

³He did what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne, according to all that David his father had done.

⁴He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.

⁵He trusted in ForeverOne, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among them] that were before him.

⁶For he joined with ForeverOne; he didn't depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which ForeverOne commanded Moses.

⁷ForeverOne was with him; wherever he went he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn't serve him.

⁸He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

⁹In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

¹⁰At the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

¹¹The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they didn't obey the voice of ForeverOne their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of ForeverOne commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.

¹³Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.

¹⁴Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, "I have offended; return from me. What you put on me, I will bear." The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

¹⁵Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of ForeverOne, and in the treasures of the king's house.

¹⁶At that time Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of ForeverOne, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.

¹⁸When they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

¹⁹Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What confidence is this in which you trust?

²⁰You say (but they are but vain words), 'There is counsel and strength for war.' Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

²¹Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.

²²But if you tell me, 'We trust in ForeverOne our God;' isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?' ²³Now therefore, please give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

²⁴Then how can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

²⁵Have I now come up without ForeverOne against this place to destroy it? ForeverOne said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"'" ²⁶Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Jews' language, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." ²⁷But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?" ²⁸Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

²⁹Thus says the king, 'Don't let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand.

³⁰Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in ForeverOne, saying, "ForeverOne will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." ³¹Don't listen to Hezekiah.' For thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern; ³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die. Don't listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, "ForeverOne will deliver us." ³³Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

³⁵Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that ForeverOne should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'" ³⁶But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, "Don't answer him." ³⁷Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came with Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

2 Kings Chapter 19

¹When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of ForeverOne.

²He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

³They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴It may be ForeverOne your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which ForeverOne your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'" ⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall tell your master, 'Thus says ForeverOne, "Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'" ⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

⁹When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, "Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?"'" ¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of ForeverOne, and spread it before ForeverOne.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before ForeverOne, and said, "ForeverOne, the God of Israel, who sit [above] the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁶Incline your ear, ForeverOne, and hear. Open your eyes, ForeverOne, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent to defy the living God.

¹⁷Truly, ForeverOne, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸and have thrown their gods into the fire; for they were no gods [at all], but [only] the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

¹⁹Now therefore, ForeverOne our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, ForeverOne, are God alone." ²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says ForeverOne, the God of Israel, 'Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.

²¹This is the word that ForeverOne has spoken concerning him: "The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

²²Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

²³By your messengers you have defied LordOfMine, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.

²⁴I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.' ²⁵Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁶Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like green plants, like grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up.

²⁷But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me.

²⁸Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came." ²⁹"'This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from it; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

³⁰The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

³¹For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of ForeverOne will perform this.' ³²"Therefore thus says ForeverOne concerning the king of Assyria, 'He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor build a siege ramp against it.

³³By the way that he came, he shall return the same way, and he shall not come to this city,' says ForeverOne.

³⁴'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'" ³⁵That night, the angel of ForeverOne went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.

³⁷As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 20

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says ForeverOne, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.'" ²Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to ForeverOne, saying, ³"Remember now, ForeverOne, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, the word of ForeverOne came to him, saying, ⁵"Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says ForeverOne, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of ForeverOne.

⁶I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake."'" ⁷Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs." They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that ForeverOne will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of ForeverOne the third day?" ⁹Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from ForeverOne, that ForeverOne will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" ¹⁰Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps." ¹¹Isaiah the prophet cried to ForeverOne; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

¹²At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

¹³Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them.

¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? Where did they come to you from?" Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, even from Babylon." ¹⁵He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them." ¹⁶Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of ForeverOne.

¹⁷'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and what your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says ForeverOne.

¹⁸'Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" ¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of ForeverOne which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?" ²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²¹Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 21

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was MyDelightIsInHer.

²He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, after the abominations of the nations whom ForeverOne threw out before the children of Israel.

³For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, just like Ahab king of Israel had, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.

⁴He built altars in the house of ForeverOne, of which ForeverOne said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem." ⁵He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of ForeverOne.

⁶He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of ForeverOne, to provoke him to anger.

⁷He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which ForeverOne 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 forever; ⁸neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them." ⁹But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do what is evil more than the nations did whom ForeverOne destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰ForeverOne spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹"Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols; ¹²therefore thus says ForeverOne, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.

¹³I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

¹⁴I will reject the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; ¹⁵because they have done what is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came here out of Egypt, even to this day.'" ¹⁶Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne.

¹⁷Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

¹⁸Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place.

¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

²⁰He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, just like Manasseh his father had.

²¹He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them: ²²and he forsook ForeverOne, the God of his fathers, and didn't walk in the way of ForeverOne.

²³The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house.

²⁴But 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.

²⁵Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁶He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings Chapter 22

¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

²He did what was right in the eyes of ForeverOne, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

³In the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of ForeverOne, saying, ⁴"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of ForeverOne, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.

⁵Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of ForeverOne; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of ForeverOne, to repair the breaches of the house, ⁶to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.

⁷However there was no accounting made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully." ⁸Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of ForeverOne." Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

⁹Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of ForeverOne." ¹⁰Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me." Shaphan read it before the king.

¹¹When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.

¹²The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, ¹³"Go inquire of ForeverOne for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of ForeverOne that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all what is written concerning us." ¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her.

¹⁵She said to them, "Thus says ForeverOne, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶"Thus says ForeverOne, 'Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.

¹⁷Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.'" ¹⁸But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of ForeverOne, thus you shall tell him, "Thus says ForeverOne, the God of Israel: 'Concerning the words which you have heard, ¹⁹because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before ForeverOne, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,' says ForeverOne.

²⁰'Therefore, 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 which I will bring on this place.'"'" They brought back this message to the king.

2 Kings Chapter 23

¹The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

²The king went up to the house of ForeverOne, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of ForeverOne.

³The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before ForeverOne, to walk after ForeverOne, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

⁴The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of ForeverOne all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

⁵He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.

⁶He brought out the Asherah from the house of ForeverOne, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

⁷He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of ForeverOne, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.

⁸He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

⁹Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn't come up to the altar of ForeverOne in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

¹⁰He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

¹¹He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of ForeverOne, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

¹²The altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of ForeverOne, the king broke down, and beat [them] down from there, and threw the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

¹³The high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled.

¹⁴He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.

¹⁵Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

¹⁶As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of ForeverOne which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

¹⁷Then he said, "What monument is what I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel." ¹⁸He said, "Let him be! Let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

¹⁹All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [ForeverOne] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

²⁰He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹The king commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to ForeverOne your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant." ²²Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; ²³but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover kept to ForeverOne in Jerusalem.

²⁴Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of ForeverOne.

²⁵Like him was there no king before him, who turned to ForeverOne with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

²⁶Notwithstanding, ForeverOne didn't turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.

²⁷ForeverOne said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will reject this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.'" ²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁹In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and [Pharaoh Necoh] killed him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

³⁰His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

³²He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, according to all that his fathers had done.

³³Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

³⁴Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there.

³⁵Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of everyone according to his taxation, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh.

³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

³⁷He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, according to all that his fathers had done.

2 Kings Chapter 24

¹In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

²ForeverOne sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of ForeverOne, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.

³Surely at the commandment of ForeverOne came this on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, ⁴and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and ForeverOne would not pardon.

⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁷The king of Egypt didn't come out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

⁹He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, according to all that his father had done.

¹⁰At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

¹¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; ¹²and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

¹³He carried out there all the treasures of the house of ForeverOne, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of ForeverOne, as ForeverOne had said.

¹⁴He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest sort of the people of the land.

¹⁵He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹⁶All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

¹⁷The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, [Jehoiachin's] father's brother, king is his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

¹⁹He did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰For it happened in Jerusalem and Judah through the anger of ForeverOne, until he had put them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

2 Kings Chapter 25

¹In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it.

²So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

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

⁴Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war [fled] by night on the road of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and [the king] went by the way of the Arabah.

⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

⁶Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment on him.

⁷They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

⁸Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem.

⁹He burned the house of ForeverOne, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.

¹⁰All the army of the Chaldeans, who were [with] the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

¹²But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

¹³The pillars of brass that were in the house of ForeverOne, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of ForeverOne, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

¹⁴The pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they away.

¹⁵The fire pans, and the basins, what was of gold, in gold, and what was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of ForeverOne, the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with network.

¹⁸The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: ¹⁹and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city.

²⁰Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

²¹The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

²²As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.

²³Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, "Don't be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you." ²⁵But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; ²⁸and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, ²⁹and changed his prison garments. [Jehoiachin] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life: ³⁰and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.