May 4
     2 Kings 21:1 — 23:20

21 Twelve years old was Manasseh when he began to reign, and for fifty-five years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he proceeded to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to the detestable things of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel. 3 So he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and set up altars to Baal and made a sacred pole, just as Ahab the king of Israel had done; and he began to bow down to all the army of the heavens and to serve them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, respecting which Jehovah had said: “In Jerusalem I shall put my name.” 5 And he went on to build altars to all the army of the heavens in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah. 6 And he made his own son pass through the fire, and he practiced magic and looked for omens and made spirit mediums and professional foretellers of events. He did on a large scale what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, to offend him.

7 Further, he put the carved image of the sacred pole that he had made in the house of which Jehovah had 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, I shall put my name to time indefinite. 8 And I shall not again make the foot of Israel wander from the ground that I gave to their forefathers, provided only they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, even concerning all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 And they did not listen, but Manasseh kept seducing them to do what was bad more than the nations whom Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.

10 And Jehovah kept speaking by means of his servants the prophets, saying: 11 “For the reason that Manasseh the king of Judah has done these detestable things, he has acted more wickedly than all that the Amorites did that were prior to him, and he proceeded to make even Judah sin with his dungy idols. 12 That is why this is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Here I am bringing a calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, of which if anyone hears both his ears will tingle. 13 And I shall certainly stretch upon Jerusalem the measuring line applied to Samaria and also the leveling instrument applied to the house of Ahab; and I shall simply wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes the handleless bowl clean, wiping it clean and turning it upside down. 14 And I shall indeed forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will simply become plunder and pillage to all their enemies, 15 for the reason that they did what was bad in my eyes and were continually offending me from the day that their forefathers came out from Egypt down to this day.’”

16 And there was also innocent blood that Manasseh shed in very great quantity, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin with which he caused Judah to sin by doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah. 17 As for the rest of the affairs of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin with which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 18 Finally Manasseh lay down with his forefathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son began to reign in place of him.

19 Twenty-two years old was Amon when he began to reign, and for two years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. 20 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, just as Manasseh his father had done. 21 And he kept walking in all the way that his father had walked, and he continued serving the dungy idols that his father had served and bowing down to them. 22 Thus he left Jehovah the God of his forefathers, and he did not walk in the way of Jehovah. 23 Eventually servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house. 24 But the people of the land struck down all the conspirators against King Amon. Then the people of the land made Josiah his son king in place of him. 25 As for the rest of the affairs of Amon, what he did, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 26 So they buried him in his grave in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son began to reign in place of him.

22 Eight years old was Josiah when he began to reign, and for thirty-one years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. 2 And he proceeded to do what was right in Jehovah’s eyes and to walk in all the way of David his forefather, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

3 And it came about in the eighteenth year of King Josiah that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the secretary to the house of Jehovah, saying: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let him complete the money that is being brought into the house of Jehovah that the doorkeepers have gathered from the people; 5 and let them put it into the hand of those doing the work, the appointed ones, in the house of Jehovah, that they may give it to those doing the work who are in the house of Jehovah to repair the cracks of the house, 6 to the craftsmen and the builders and the masons, and to buy timbers and hewn stones to repair the house. 7 Only no accounting should be taken of the money with them into whose hand it is being put, for it is in faithfulness that they are working.”

8 Later Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary: “The very book of the law I have found in the house of Jehovah.” So Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he began to read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary came in to the king and replied to the king and said: “Your servants have poured out the money that was to be found in the house, and they keep putting it into the hand of the doers of the work, the ones appointed, in the house of Jehovah.” 10 And Shaphan the secretary went on to tell the king, saying: “There is a book that Hilkiah the priest has given me.” And Shaphan began to read it before the king.

11 And it came about that as soon as the king heard the words of the book of the law, he immediately ripped his garments apart. 12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Achbor the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying: 13 “Go, inquire of Jehovah in my own behalf and in behalf of the people and in behalf of all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is Jehovah’s rage that has been set afire against us over the fact that our forefathers did not listen to the words of this book by doing according to all that is written concerning us.”

14 Accordingly 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, the caretaker of the garments, as she was dwelling in Jerusalem in the second quarter; and they proceeded to speak to her. 15 In turn she said to them: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Say to the man that has sent YOU men to me: 16 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am bringing calamity upon this place and upon its inhabitants, even all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read; 17 due to the fact that they have left me and have gone making sacrificial smoke to other gods in order to offend me with all the work of their hands, and my rage has been set afire against this place and will not be extinguished.’”’ 18 And as to the king of Judah who is sending YOU to inquire of Jehovah, this is what YOU should say to him, ‘This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said: “As regards the words that you have heard, 19 for the reason that your heart was soft so that you humbled yourself because of Jehovah at your hearing what I have spoken against this place and its inhabitants [for it] to become an object of astonishment and a malediction, and then you ripped your garments apart and began weeping before me, I, even I, have heard,” is the utterance of Jehovah. 20 “That is why here I am gathering you to your forefathers, and you will certainly be gathered to your own graveyard in peace, and your eyes will not look upon all the calamity that I am bringing upon this place.”’” And they proceeded to bring the king the reply.

23 Then the king sent and they gathered together to him all the older men of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 After that the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and also all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and also the priests and the prophets and all the people, from small to great; and he began to read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of Jehovah. 3 And the king kept standing by the pillar and now concluded the covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all the heart and with all the soul by carrying out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. Accordingly all the people took their stand in the covenant.

4 And the king went on to command Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out from the temple of Jehovah all the utensils made for Baal and for the sacred pole and for all the army of the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem on the terraces of Kidron, and he brought the dust of them to Bethel. 5 And he put out of business the foreign-god priests, whom the kings of Judah had put in that they might make sacrificial smoke on the high places in the cities of Judah and the surroundings of Jerusalem, and also those making sacrificial smoke to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations of the zodiac and to all the army of the heavens. 6 Furthermore, he brought out the sacred pole from the house of Jehovah to the outskirts of Jerusalem, to the torrent valley of Kidron, and burned it in the torrent valley of Kidron and ground it to dust and cast its dust upon the burial place of the sons of the people. 7 Further, he pulled down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women were weaving tent shrines for the sacred pole.

8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, that he might make unfit for worship the high places where the priests had made sacrificial smoke, from Geba as far as Beer-sheba; and he pulled down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the chief of the city, which was at the left as a person came into the gate of the city. 9 Only the priests of the high places would not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate unfermented cakes in among their brothers. 10 And he made unfit for worship Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. 11 Further, he caused the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun to cease from entering the house of Jehovah by the dining room of Nathan-melech the court official, which was in the porticoes; and the chariots of the sun he burned in the fire. 12 And the altars that were upon the roof of the roof chamber of Ahaz that the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah, the king pulled down, after which he crushed them there, and he cast their dust into the torrent valley of Kidron. 13 And the high places that were in front of Jerusalem, that were to the right of the Mount of Ruination, that Solomon the king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth the disgusting thing of the Sidonians and to Chemosh the disgusting thing of Moab and to Milcom the detestable thing of the sons of Ammon, the king made unfit for worship. 14 And he broke the sacred pillars to pieces and went on to cut down the sacred poles and to fill their places with human bones. 15 And also the altar that was in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he pulled down. Then he burned the high place; he ground [it] to dust and burned the sacred pole.

16 When Josiah turned, he got to see the burial places that were there in the mountain. So he sent and took the bones from the burial places and burned them upon the altar, that he might make it unfit for worship, according to Jehovah’s word that the man of the [true] God had proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said: “What is the gravestone over there that I am seeing?” At this the men of the city said to him: “It is the burial place of the man of the [true] God that came from Judah and proceeded to proclaim these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” 18 So he said: “Let him rest. Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” Consequently they let his bones alone along with the bones of the prophet that had come from Samaria.

19 And also all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had built to cause offense Josiah removed, and he went on to do to them according to all the doings that he had done at Bethel. 20 Accordingly he sacrificed all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned human bones upon them. After that he returned to Jerusalem.