21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 1 His mother 2 was Hephzibah. 21:2 He did evil in the sight of 3 the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations 4 whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky 5 and worshiped 6 them. 21:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.” 7 21:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 21:6 He passed his son 8 through the fire 9 and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. 10 He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 11 21:7 He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. 12 21:8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, 13 provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law my servant Moses ordered them to obey.” 21:9 But they did not obey, 14 and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.
21:10 So the Lord announced through 15 his servants the prophets: 21:11 “King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. 16 He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols. 17 21:12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it. 18 21:13 I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria 19 and the dynasty of Ahab. 20 I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides. 21 21:14 I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people 22 and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies, 23 21:15 because they have done evil in my sight 24 and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”
21:16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, 25 in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord. 26
21:17 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign and all his accomplishments, as well as the sinful acts he committed, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 27 21:18 Manasseh passed away 28 and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzzah, and his son Amon replaced him as king.
21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 29 His mother 30 was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah. 21:20 He did evil in the sight of 31 the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done. 21:21 He followed in the footsteps of his father 32 and worshiped and bowed down to the disgusting idols 33 which his father had worshiped. 34 21:22 He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors and did not follow the Lord’s instructions. 35 21:23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. 21:24 The people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they 36 made his son Josiah king in his place.
21:25 The rest of Amon’s accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 37 21:26 He was buried 38 in his tomb in the garden of Uzzah, and his son Josiah replaced him as king.
22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 39 His mother 40 was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath. 22:2 He did what the Lord approved 41 and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; 42 he did not deviate to the right or the left.
22:3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders: 43 22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down 44 the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. 22:5 Have them hand it over to the construction foremen 45 assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it, 46 22:6 including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work. 47 22:7 Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.” 48
22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. 22:9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, 49 “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple 50 and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” 22:10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. 22:11 When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. 22:12 The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, 22:13 “Go, seek an oracle from 51 the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about 52 the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, 53 because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” 54
22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. 55 (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh 56 district.) They stated their business, 57 22:15 and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me: 22:16 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read. 58 22:17 This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices 59 to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. 60 My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’” 22:18 Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard: 22:19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit 61 and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. 62 You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord. 22:20 ‘Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace. 63 You will not have to witness 64 all the disaster I will bring on this place.’”’” Then they reported back to the king.
23:1 The king summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. 65 23:2 The king went up to the Lord’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldest. He read aloud 66 all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s temple. 23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed 67 the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow 68 the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, 69 by carrying out the terms 70 of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant. 71
23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, 72 and the guards 73 to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of 74 Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. 75 The king 76 burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces 77 of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 78 23:5 He eliminated 79 the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices 80 on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices 81 to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) 23:6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. 82 He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. 83 23:7 He tore down the quarters 84 of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines 85 for Asherah.
23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined 86 the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. 87 He tore down the high place of the goat idols 88 situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate. 23:9 (Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.) 89 23:10 The king 90 ruined Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that no one could pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech. 91 23:11 He removed from the entrance to the Lord’s temple the statues of horses 92 that the kings of Judah had placed there in honor of the sun god. (They were kept near the room of Nathan Melech the eunuch, which was situated among the courtyards.) 93 He burned up the chariots devoted to the sun god. 94 23:12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up 95 and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley. 23:13 The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, 96 that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom. 23:14 He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines 97 with human bones.
23:15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel 98 at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. 99 He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. 100 23:16 When Josiah turned around, he saw the tombs there on the hill. So he ordered the bones from the tombs to be brought; 101 he burned them on the altar and defiled it. This fulfilled the Lord’s announcement made by the prophet while Jeroboam stood by the altar during a festival. King Josiah 102 turned and saw the grave of the prophet who had foretold this. 103 23:17 He asked, “What is this grave marker I see?” The men from the city replied, “It’s the grave of the prophet 104 who came from Judah and foretold these very things you have done to the altar of Bethel.” 23:18 The king 105 said, “Leave it alone! No one must touch his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, as well as the bones of the Israelite prophet buried beside him. 106
23:19 Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made them and angered the Lord. 107 He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel. 108 23:20 He sacrificed all the priests of the high places on the altars located there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
23:21 The king ordered all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God, as prescribed in this scroll of the covenant.” 23:22 He issued this edict because 109 a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah. 110 23:23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, such a Passover of the Lord was observed in Jerusalem.
23:24 Josiah also got rid of 111 the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, 112 the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, 113 and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law 114 recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple. 23:25 No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses. 115
23:26 Yet the Lord’s great anger against Judah did not subside; he was still infuriated by all the things Manasseh had done. 116 23:27 The Lord announced, “I will also spurn Judah, 117 just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose – both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, “I will live there.” 118
23:28 The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign and all his accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 119 23:29 During Josiah’s reign Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt marched toward 120 the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to fight him, but Necho 121 killed him at Megiddo 122 when he saw him. 23:30 His servants transported his dead body 123 from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head, 124 and made him king in his father’s place.
23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 125 His mother 126 was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 23:32 He did evil in the sight of 127 the Lord as his ancestors had done. 128 23:33 Pharaoh Necho imprisoned him in Riblah in the land of Hamath and prevented him from ruling in Jerusalem. 129 He imposed on the land a special tax 130 of one hundred talents 131 of silver and a talent of gold. 23:34 Pharaoh Necho made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in Josiah’s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died. 132 23:35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh the required amount of silver and gold, but to meet Pharaoh’s demands Jehoiakim had to tax the land. He collected an assessed amount from each man among the people of the land in order to pay Pharaoh Necho. 133
23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. 134 His mother was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah. 23:37 He did evil in the sight of 135 the Lord as his ancestors had done.
24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, 136 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. 137 Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him. 138 24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. 139 24:3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed. 140 24:4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them. 141
24:5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 142 24:6 He passed away 143 and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. 24:7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.
24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 144 His mother 145 was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 24:9 He did evil in the sight of 146 the Lord as his ancestors had done.
24:10 At that time the generals 147 of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city. 148 24:11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it. 24:12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered 149 to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, 150 took Jehoiachin 151 prisoner. 24:13 Nebuchadnezzar 152 took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned. 24:14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land. 24:15 He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land. 153 24:16 The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors. 154 24:17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s 155 uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.
24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. 156 His mother 157 was Hamutal, 158 the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 24:19 He did evil in the sight of 159 the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. 160
24:20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. 161 Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 25:1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside 162 it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. 163 25:2 The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 25:3 By the ninth day of the fourth month 164 the famine in the city was so severe the residents 165 had no food. 25:4 The enemy broke through the city walls, 166 and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. 167 They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. 168 (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. 169 25:5 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, 170 and his entire army deserted him. 25:6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, 171 where he 172 passed sentence on him. 25:7 Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. 173 The king of Babylon 174 then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.
25:8 On the seventh 175 day of the fifth month, 176 in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard 177 who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. 178 25:9 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. 179 25:10 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. 25:11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 180 25:12 But he 181 left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.
25:13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called the “The Sea.” 182 They took the bronze to Babylon. 25:14 They also took the pots, shovels, 183 trimming shears, 184 pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. 185 25:15 The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers 186 and basins. 25:16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple – including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” 187 and the movable stands – was too heavy to be weighed. 25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet 188 high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet 189 high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.
25:18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 25:19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five 190 of the king’s advisers 191 who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens 192 for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. 25:20 Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 25:21 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed 193 at Riblah in the territory 194 of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.
25:22 Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah. 195 25:23 All of the officers of the Judahite army 196 and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite. 25:24 Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. 197 He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.” 25:25 But in the seventh month 198 Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, 199 came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, 200 as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 25:26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for 201 Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.
25:27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh 202 day of the twelfth month, 203 King Evil-Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned 204 King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him 205 from prison. 25:28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than 206 the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 25:29 Jehoiachin 207 took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 25:30 He was given daily provisions by the king for the rest of his life until the day he died. 208
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
3 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
4 tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”
5 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.
6 tn Or “served.”
7 tn Heb “In Jerusalem I will place my name.”
8 tc The LXX has the plural “his sons” here.
9 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
10 tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with conjurers.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov), “ritual pit,” refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov), “owner of a ritual pit.” See H. Hoffner, “Second millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967), 385-401.
11 tc Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the
12 tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name perpetually (or perhaps “forever”).”
13 tn Heb “I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I gave to their fathers.”
14 tn Heb “listen.”
15 tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”
16 tn Heb “these horrible sins.”
17 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
18 tn Heb “so that everyone who hears it, his two ears will quiver.”
19 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
20 tn Heb “I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab.” The measuring line and plumb line are normally used in building a structure, not tearing it down. But here they are used ironically as metaphors of judgment, emphasizing that he will give careful attention to the task of judgment.
21 tn Heb “just as one wipes a plate, wiping and turning [it] on its face.” The word picture emphasizes how thoroughly the Lord will judge the city.
22 tn Heb “the remnant of my inheritance.” In this context the Lord’s remnant is the tribe of Judah, which had been preserved when the Assyrians conquered and deported the northern tribes. See 17:18 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 269.
23 tn Heb “they will become plunder and spoils of war for all their enemies.”
24 tn Heb “in my eyes.”
25 tn Heb “and also Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from mouth to mouth.”
26 tn Heb “apart from his sin which he caused Judah to commit, by doing what is evil in the eyes of the
27 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Manasseh, and all which he did, and his sin which he committed, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
28 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
29 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
30 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
31 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
32 tn Heb “walked in all the way which his father walked.”
33 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
34 tn Heb “and he served the disgusting idols which his father served and he bowed down to them.”
35 tn Heb “and did not walk in the way of the
36 tn Heb “the people of the land.” The pronoun “they” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid the repetition of the phrase “the people of the land” from the beginning of the verse.
37 tc Heb “As for the rest of the things of Amon which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?” Many Hebrew
38 tn Heb “he buried him.” Here “he” probably refers to Amon’s son Josiah.
39 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
40 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
41 tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the
42 tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”
43 tn Heb “with these orders, saying.”
44 tc The MT has וְיַתֵּם (vÿyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (vÿyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 281.
45 tn Heb “doers of the work.”
46 tn Heb “and let them give it to the doers of the work who are in the house of the
47 tn Heb “and to buy wood and chiseled stone to repair the house.”
48 tn Heb “only the silver that is given into their hand should not be reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are acting.”
49 tn Heb “returned the king a word and said.”
50 tn Heb “that was found in the house.”
51 tn Or “inquire of.”
52 tn Heb “concerning.”
53 tn Heb “for great is the anger of the
54 tn Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”
55 tn Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”
56 tn Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 283.
57 tn Heb “and they spoke to her.”
58 tn Heb “all the words of the scroll which the king of Judah has read.”
59 tn Or “burned incense.”
60 tn Heb “angering me with all the work of their hands.” The translation assumes that this refers to idols they have manufactured (note the preceding reference to “other gods,” as well as 19:18). However, it is possible that this is a general reference to their sinful practices, in which case one might translate, “angering me by all the things they do.”
61 tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”
62 tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.
63 tn Heb “Therefore, look, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your tomb in peace.”
64 tn Heb “your eyes will not see.”
65 tn Heb “and the king sent and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him.”
66 tn Heb “read in their ears.”
67 tn Heb “cut,” that is, “made, agreed to.”
68 tn Heb “walk after.”
69 tn Or “soul.”
70 tn Heb “words.”
71 tn Heb “stood in the covenant.”
72 tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.
73 tn Or “doorkeepers.”
74 tn Heb “for.”
75 tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).
76 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
77 tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.
78 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
79 tn Perhaps, “destroyed.”
80 tn Or “burn incense.”
81 tn Or “burned incense.”
82 tn Heb “and he burned it in the Kidron Valley.”
83 tc Heb “on the grave of the sons of the people.” Some Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses read the plural “graves.”
84 tn Or “cubicles.” Heb “houses.”
85 tn Heb “houses.” Perhaps tent-shrines made from cloth are in view (see BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת). M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 286) understand this as referring to clothes made for images of the goddess.
86 tn Heb “defiled; desecrated,” that is, “made ritually unclean and unusable.”
87 sn These towns marked Judah’s northern and southern borders, respectively, at the time of Josiah.
88 tc The Hebrew text reads “the high places of the gates,” which is problematic in that the rest of the verse speaks of a specific gate. The translation assumes an emendation to בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים (bamot hashÿ’arim), “the high place of the goats” (that is, goat idols). Worship of such images is referred to in Lev 17:7 and 2 Chr 11:15. For a discussion of the textual issue, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 286-87.
89 tn Heb “their brothers.”
90 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
91 sn Attempts to identify this deity with a god known from the ancient Near East have not yet yielded a consensus. For brief discussions see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor II Kings (AB), 288 and HALOT 592 s.v. מֹלֶךְ. For more extensive studies see George C. Heider, The Cult of Molek, and John Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament.
92 tn The MT simply reads “the horses.” The words “statues of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
93 tn Heb “who/which was in the […?].” The meaning of the Hebrew term פַּרְוָרִים (parvarim), translated here “courtyards,” is uncertain. The relative clause may indicate where the room was located or explain who Nathan Melech was, “the eunuch who was in the courtyards.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 288-89, who translate “the officer of the precincts.”
94 tn Heb “and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.”
95 tc The MT reads, “he ran from there,” which makes little if any sense in this context. Some prefer to emend the verbal form (Qal of רוּץ [ruts], “run”) to a Hiphil of רוּץ with third plural suffix and translate, “he quickly removed them” (see BDB 930 s.v. רוּץ, and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings [AB], 289). The suffix could have been lost in MT by haplography (note the mem [מ] that immediately follows the verb on the form מִשֳׁם, misham, “from there”). Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to emend the verb to a Piel of רָצַץ (ratsats), “crush,” with third plural suffix.
96 sn This is a derogatory name for the Mount of Olives, involving a wordplay between מָשְׁחָה (mashÿkhah), “anointing,” and מַשְׁחִית (mashÿkhit), “destruction.” See HALOT 644 s.v. מַשְׁחִית and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.
97 tn Heb “their places.”
98 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
99 tn Heb “And also the altar that is in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin, also that altar and the high place he tore down.” The more repetitive Hebrew text is emphatic.
100 tn Heb “he burned the high place, crushing to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole.” High places per se are never referred to as being burned elsewhere. בָּמָה (bamah) here stands by metonymy for the combustible items located on the high place. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 289.
101 tn Heb “and he sent and took the bones from the tombs.”
102 tn Heb “the king”; this has been specified as “King Josiah” in the translation for clarity (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
103 tc The MT is much shorter than this. It reads, “according to the word of the
104 tn Heb “man of God.”
105 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
106 tn Heb “and they left undisturbed his bones, the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.” If the phrase “the bones of the prophet” were appositional to “his bones,” one would expect the sentence to end “from Judah” (see v. 17). Apparently the “prophet” referred to in the second half of the verse is the old prophet from Bethel who buried the man of God from Judah in his own tomb and instructed his sons to bury his bones there as well (1 Kgs 13:30-31). One expects the text to read “from Bethel,” but “Samaria” (which was not even built at the time of the incident recorded in 1 Kgs 13) is probably an anachronistic reference to the northern kingdom in general. See the note at 1 Kgs 13:32 and the discussion in M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 290.
107 tc Heb “which the kings of Israel had made, angering.” The object has been accidentally omitted in the MT. It appears in the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate versions.
108 tn Heb “and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.”
109 tn The Hebrew text has simply “because.” The translation attempts to reflect more clearly the logical connection between the king’s order and the narrator’s observation. Another option is to interpret כִּי (ki) as asseverative and translate, “indeed.”
110 tn Heb “because there had not been observed [one] like this Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel and all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.”
111 tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.
112 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.
113 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
114 tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”
115 tn Heb “and like him there was not a king before him who returned to the
116 tn Heb “Yet the
117 tn Heb “Also Judah I will turn away from my face.”
118 tn Heb “My name will be there.”
119 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Josiah, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
120 tn Heb “went up to.” The idiom עַל…עָלָה (’alah …’al) can sometimes mean “go up against,” but here it refers to Necho’s attempt to aid the Assyrians in their struggle with the Babylonians.
121 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Necho) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
122 map For location see Map1-D4; Map2-C1; Map4-C2; Map5-F2; Map7-B1.
123 tn Heb “him, dead.”
124 tn Or “anointed him.”
125 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
126 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
127 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
128 tn Heb “according to all which his fathers had done.”
129 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has “when [he was] ruling in Jerusalem,” but the marginal reading (Qere), which has support from Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses, has “[preventing him] from ruling in Jerusalem.”
130 tn Or “fine.”
131 tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold (cf. NCV, NLT); CEV “almost four tons of silver and about seventy-five pounds of gold.”
132 tn Heb “and he took Jehoahaz, and he came to Egypt and he died there.”
133 tn Heb “And the silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the silver at the command of Pharaoh, [from] each according to his tax he collected the silver and the gold, from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Necho.”
134 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
135 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
136 tn Heb “In his days.”
137 tn Heb “came up.” Perhaps an object (“against him”) has been accidentally omitted from the text. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 306.
138 tn The Hebrew text has “and he turned and rebelled against him.”
139 tn Heb “he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the
140 tn Heb “Certainly according to the word of the
141 tn Heb “and also the blood of the innocent which he shed, and he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the
142 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Jehoiakim, and all which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”
143 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
144 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
145 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
146 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
147 tn Heb “servants.”
148 tn Heb “went up [to] Jerusalem and the city entered into siege.”
149 tn Heb “came out.”
150 sn That is, the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, 597
151 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jehoiachin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
152 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nebuchadnezzar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
153 tn Heb “and he deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king and the wives of the king and his eunuchs and the mighty of the land he led into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”
154 tn Heb “the entire [group], mighty men, doers of war.”
155 tn Heb “his.”
156 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
157 tn Heb “the name of his mother.”
158 tc Some textual witnesses support the consonantal text (Kethib) in reading “Hamital.”
159 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
160 tn Heb “according to all which Jehoiakim had done.”
161 tn Heb “Surely [or, ‘for’] because of the anger of the
162 tn Or “against.”
163 sn This would have been Jan 15, 588
164 tn The MT has simply “of the month,” but the parallel passage in Jer 52:6 has “fourth month,” and this is followed by almost all English translations. The word “fourth,” however, is not actually present in the MT of 2 Kgs 25:3.
165 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
166 tn Heb “the city was breached.”
167 tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.
168 sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
169 sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
170 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
171 sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
172 tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.
173 tn Heb “were killed before his eyes.”
174 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
175 tn The parallel account in Jer 52:12 has “tenth.”
176 sn The seventh day of the month would have been August 14, 586
177 tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2, and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.
178 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
179 tn Heb “and every large house he burned down with fire.”
180 tc The MT has “the multitude.” But הֶהָמוֹן (hehamon) should probably be emended to הֶאָמוֹן (he’amon).
181 tn Heb “the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.
182 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.
183 sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.
184 sn These were used to trim the wicks.
185 tn Heb “with which they served [or, ‘fulfilled their duty’].”
186 sn These held the embers used for the incense offerings.
187 tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the וְהָ (vÿha-) on וְהַבָּקָר (vÿhabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the וְהָ on וְהַמְּכֹנוֹת (vÿhammÿkhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.
188 tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
189 tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”
190 tn The parallel passage in Jer 52:25 has “seven.”
191 tn Heb “five seers of the king’s face.”
192 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
193 tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”
194 tn Heb “land.”
195 tn Heb “And the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left, he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.”
196 tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
197 tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
198 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
199 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
200 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”
201 tn Heb “arose and went to.”
202 sn The parallel account in Jer 52:31 has “twenty-fifth.”
203 sn The twenty-seventh day would be March 22, 561
204 tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”
205 tn The words “released him” are supplied in the translation on the basis of Jer 52:31.
206 tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of.”
207 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoiachin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
208 tc The words “until the day he died” do not appear in the MT, but they are included in the parallel passage in Jer 52:34. Probably they have been accidentally omitted by homoioteleuton. A scribe’s eye jumped from the final vav (ו) on בְּיוֹמוֹ (bÿyomo), “in his day,” to the final vav (ו) on מוֹתוֹ (moto), “his death,” leaving out the intervening words.