<p class="bodytext">At that time the generals<n id="1" /> of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city.<n id="2" />

The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He<n id="1" /> attacked<n id="2" /> Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate &#8211; a distance of about six hundred feet.<n id="3" />

I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria<n id="1" /> and the dynasty of Ahab.<n id="2" /> I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">At that time King Hazael of Syria attacked<n id="1" /> Gath and captured it. Hazael then decided to attack Jerusalem.<n id="2" />

He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> His mother<n id="2" /> was Jehoaddan, who was from Jerusalem.

<p class="bodytext">At that time King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> They besieged Ahaz,<n id="2" /> but were unable to conquer him.<n id="3" />

Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the <sc>Lordsc> rescue Jerusalem from my power?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />

This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says about him:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The virgin daughter Zion<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">despises you, she makes fun of you;p> <p class="poetry">Daughter Jerusalemp> <p class="poetry">shakes her head after you.<n id="3" />p>

So this is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says, &#8216;I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it.<n id="1" />

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.p>

Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the <sc>Lordsc> was unwilling to forgive them.<n id="1" />p>

He burned down the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser<n id="1" /> from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went<n id="3" /> and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.<n id="4" />

&#8220;Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: &#8216;Don&#8217;t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, &#8220;Jerusalem will not be handed over<n id="1" /> to the king of Assyria.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end,<n id="1" /> in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p>

The king went up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;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<n id="1" /> all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been discovered in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

He eliminated<n id="1" /> the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices<n id="2" /> on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices<n id="3" /> to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction,<n id="1" /> that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom.

The <sc>Lordsc> announced, &#8220;I will also spurn Judah,<n id="1" /> just as I spurned Israel. I will reject this city that I chose &#8211; both Jerusalem and the temple, about which I said, &#8220;I will live there.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>