They were worshiping<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.p>

He did evil in the sight of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him.

<p class="bodytext">Now four men with a skin disease<n id="1" /> were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, &#8220;Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?<n id="2" />

He trusted in the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">Their residents are powerless,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they are terrified and ashamed.p> <p class="poetry">They are as short-lived as plants in the field,p> <p class="poetry">or green vegetation.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">when it is scorched by the east wind.<n id="4" />p>

These nations are worshiping the <sc>Lordsc> and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.p>

He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole.<n id="1" /> He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time<n id="2" /> the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.<n id="3" />

But in the seventh month<n id="1" /> Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family,<n id="2" /> came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah,<n id="3" /> as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.