During Josiah&#8217;s reign Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt marched toward<n id="1" /> the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to fight him, but Necho<n id="2" /> killed him at Megiddo<n id="3" /> when he saw him.

Nebuchadnezzar<n id="1" /> took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, just as the <sc>Lordsc> had warned.

The enemy broke through the city walls,<n id="1" /> and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night.<n id="2" /> They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king&#8217;s garden.<n id="3" /> (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.<n id="4" />

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.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, &#8216;When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.&#8217;&#8221;

King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians<n id="1" /> in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit<n id="2" /> Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.p>

<p class="bodytext">He wrote them a second letter, saying, &#8220;If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me,<n id="1" /> then take the heads of your master&#8217;s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent<n id="3" /> men of the city were raising them.

King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all<n id="1" /> to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew<n id="2" /> from Jerusalem.p>

<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" />

The king stood by the pillar and renewed<n id="1" /> the covenant before the <sc>Lordsc>, agreeing to follow<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,<n id="3" /> by carrying out the terms<n id="4" /> of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests,<n id="1" /> and the guards<n id="2" /> to bring out of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple all the items that were used in the worship of<n id="3" /> Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky.<n id="4" /> The king<n id="5" /> burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces<n id="6" /> of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.<n id="7" />

From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five<n id="1" /> of the king&#8217;s advisers<n id="2" /> who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens<n id="3" /> for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city.

They replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;A man came up to meet us. He told us, &#8220;Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron.<n id="2" /> Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;