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Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying,

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“Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

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It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

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“Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, 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 Yahweh.

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I 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.”‘”

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Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

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Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?”

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Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”

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Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.”

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Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

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

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Hezekiah 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.

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Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.”

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He 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.”

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Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh.

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

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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.’”

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Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “Isn’t it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?”

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Now 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?

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

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

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He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.

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

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He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”

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He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.

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He 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 Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

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He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh 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;

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neither 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.”

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But they didn’t listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.

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Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,

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“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;

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therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.

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I 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.

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I will cast off 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;

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because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.’”

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Moreover 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 that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

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Now 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?

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Manasseh 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.

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Amon 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.

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He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father.

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He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them:

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and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn’t walk in the way of Yahweh.

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

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But 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.

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Now 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?

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

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Josiah 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.

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He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn’t turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

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It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Yahweh, saying,

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“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.

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Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of Yahweh, to repair the breaches of the house,

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to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.

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However there was no accounting made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.”

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Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh.” Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

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Shaphan 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 Yahweh.”

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Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me.” Shaphan read it before the king.

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It happened, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes.

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The 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,

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“Go inquire of Yahweh 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 Yahweh that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.”

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So 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.

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She said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,

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“Thus says Yahweh, ‘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.

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Because 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.’”

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But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall tell him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Concerning the words which you have heard,

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because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, 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 Yahweh.

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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.

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

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The king went up to the house of Yahweh, 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 Yahweh.

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The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, 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.

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The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh 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.

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He 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.

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

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

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He 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.

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

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He 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.

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

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The 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 Yahweh, did the king break down, and beat [them] down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

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The 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, did the king defile.

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

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Moreover 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.

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As 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 Yahweh which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

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Then he said, “What monument is that which 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.”

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He 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.

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

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He 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.

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The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”

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Surely 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;

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but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem.

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Moreover 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, did 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 Yahweh.

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Like him was there no king before him, who turned to Yahweh 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.

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Notwithstanding, Yahweh 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.

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Yahweh said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”

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Now 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?

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In 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.

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His 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.

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Jehoahaz 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.

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He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done.

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Pharaoh 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.

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Pharaoh 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.