“Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²  and how I have carried out your will.” ³  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ 

So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside ¹  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. ² 

King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, “On the large altar ¹  offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.” ² 

Now Naaman, the commander of the king of Syria’s army, was esteemed and respected by his master, ¹  for through him the Lord had given Syria military victories. But this great warrior had a skin disease. ² 

When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. ¹  They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. ²  Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it ³  and went and hid what they had taken.

He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, ¹  and the king ²  sat down on the royal throne.

The fifty members of the prophetic guild went and stood opposite them at a distance, while Elijah and Elisha ¹  stood by the Jordan.

In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Ahab’s son Jehoram became king over Israel in Samaria; ¹  he ruled for twelve years.

Dogs will devour Jezebel on the plot of ground in Jezreel; she will not be buried.’” ¹  Then he opened the door and ran away.

He said, “Capture them alive!” So they captured them alive and then executed all forty-two of them in the cistern at Beth Eked. He left no survivors.

All the people of the land celebrated, for the city had rest now that they had killed Athaliah with the sword in the royal palace.

Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” 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.

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations ²  whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath.

The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant,

Yet the Lord’s great anger against Judah did not subside; he was still infuriated by all the things Manasseh had done. ¹ 

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

He got up on the bed and spread his body out over ¹  the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s ²  mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy’s skin ³  grew warm.