small. 16 Besides the increase of males from three years old and upwards, to every one entering into the house of the Lord, a portion according to a daily rate, for service in the daily courses of their order. 17 This the distribution of the priests according to the houses of their families; and the Levites in their daily courses from twenty years old and upward were in their order, 18 to assign stations for all the increase of their sons and their daughters, for the whole number: for they faithfully sanctified the holy place. 19 As for the sons of Aaron that executed the priests' office,-even those from their cities, the men in each several city who were named expressly, —were appointed to give a portion to every male among the priests, and to every one reckoned among the Levites. 20 And Ezekias did so through all Juda, and did that which was good and right before the Lord his God. 21 And in every work which he began in service in the house of the Lord, and in the law, and in the ordinances, + See Daniel he sought his God with all his soul, and 'wrought, and 8. 12. prospered. 3 32. And after these things and this + Gr. truth. *faithful dealing, came Sennacherim king of the Assyrians, and he came to Juda, and encamped against + Gr. said. the fortified cities, and 'intended to take them for himself. "And Ezekias saw that Sennacherim was come, and that his face was set to fight against Jerusalem. And he took counsel with his elders and his mighty men to stop the wells of water which were without the city: and they helped him. And he collected many people, and stopped the wells of water, and + Gr. made a the river that flowed division. through the city, saying, Lest the king of Assyria come, and find much water, and strengthen himself. 5 And And Ezekias strengthened + 9 himself, and built all the wall that had been pulled down, and the towers, and another wall in front without, and fortified the strong place of +Gr.ȧvádnμμa. the city of David, and pre- Heb i pared arms in abundance. And he appointed captains of war over the people, and they were gathered to meet him to the open place of the gate of the valley, and he encou- + Gr. spoke to raged them, saying, 7 Be their heart. strong and courageous, and fear not, neither be dismayed before the king of Assyria, and before all the nation that is with him: for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him are arms of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to save us, and to fight our battle. And the people were encouraged at the words of Ezekias king of Juda. And afterwards Sennacherim king of the Assyrians sent his servants to Jerusalem, and he went himself against Lachis, and all his army with him, and sent to Ezekias king of Juda, and to all Juda that was in Jerusalem, saying, 10 Thus says Sennacherim king of the Assyrians, On what do ye trust, that ye will remain in the siege in Jerusalem? 11 Does not Ezekias deceive you, to deliver you to death and famine and thirst, saying, The Lord our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 12 Is not this Ezekias who has taken down his altars and his high places, and has spoken to Juda and the dwellers in Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before this altar, and burn incense upon it? 13 Know ye not what I and my fathers have done to all the nations of the countries? Could the gods of the nations of all the earth at all rescue their people out of my hand? 14 Who is there among all the gods of those nations whom my fathers utterly destroyed, worthy of trust? Could they deliver their people out of my hand, that your God should deliver you out of my hand? 15 Now then, let not + +q. d. to prayer. + Gr. was Ezekias deceive you, and let him not | pense the Lord according to the return make you thus confident, and believe which he made him, but him not: for no god of any kingdom his heart was lifted up: and or nation is at all able to deliver his wrath came upon him, and upon Juda people out of my hand, or the hand of and Jerusalem. 26 And Ezekias 'hummy fathers: therefore your God shall bled himself after the exnot deliver you out of my hand. altation of his heart, he and brought low. 16 And his servants continued to speak the dwellers in Jerusalem; and the against the Lord God, and against wrath of the Lord did not come upon his servant Ezekias. 17 And he wrote them in the days of Ezekias. 27 And + Or, book. a letter to reproach the Ezekias had wealth and very great Lord God of Israel, and spoke con- glory: and he made for himself treacerning him, saying, As the gods suries of gold, and silver, and precious of the nations of the earth have not stones, also for spices, and Gr. stone. delivered their people out of my hand, stores for arms, and for precious vesso the God of Ezekias shall by no sels; 28 and cities for the produce of means deliver his people out of my corn, and wine, and oil; and 'stalls and hand. 18 And he cried with a loud mangers for every kind Gr. villages. voice in the Jews' language to the of cattle, and folds for flocks; 29 and people of Jerusalem on the wall, calling cities which he built for himself, and them to assist them, and pull down the store of sheep and oxen in abundance, walls, that they might take the city. for the Lord gave him a very great 19 And he spoke against the God of store. 30 The same Ezekias stopped Jerusalem, even as against the gods of up the course of the water of Gion the nations of the earth, the works of above, and brought the water down the hands of men. 20 And king Eze- straight south of the city of David. kias and Esaias the prophet the son of And Ezekias prospered in all his works. Amos prayed concerning these things, 31 Notwithstanding, in re- Gr.KaLOUTS, and they cried to heaven. 21 And the gard to the ambassadors of Lord sent an angel, and he destroyed the princes of Babylon, who were sent every mighty man and warrior, and to him to inquire of him concerning leader and captain in the camp of the the prodigy which came upon the king of Assyria: and he returned with land, the Lord left him, to try him, shame of face to his own land and came to know what was in his heart. 32 And into the house of his god: and some the rest of the acts of Ezekias, and of them that came out of his bowels his kindness, behold, they slew him with the sword. 22 So the Lord delivered Ezekias and the dwellers in Jerusalem out of the hand of Sennacherim king of Assyria, and out of the hand of all his enemies, and gave them rest round about. 23 And many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Ezekias king of Juda; and he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after these things. 24 In those days Ezekias was sick even to death, and prayed to the Lord: and he hearkened to him, and gave him a sign. 25 But Ezekias did not recom 499 + † καὶ οὕτως, lit. rending of נְכֵן + Gr. mercy. are written in the prophecy of Esaias the son of Amos the prophet, and in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. 33 And Ezekias slept with his fathers, and they buried him in a high place among the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Juda and the dwellers in Jerusalem gave him glory and honour at his death. And Manasses his son reigned in his stead. 33. Manasses was twelve 'when he began to reign, 33* old years + Alex. fifty years. + Gr. of. + Hebraism, prob. for he built again.' chap. 28. 3. 4 The Heb.word and he reigned fifty-five years in | they took Manasses in bonds, and bound Jerusalem. And he did him in fetters, and brought him to that which was evil in the Babylon. 12 And when he was afsight of the Lord, according to all the flicted, he sought the face of the Lord abominations of the heathen, his God, and was greatly humbled before whom the Lord destroyed from before the face of the God of his fathers; the face of the children of Israel. 13 and he prayed to him: and he heark3 And he returned and ened to him, and listened to his cry, and built the high places, which brought him back to Jerusalem to his his father Ezekias had pulled down, kingdom: and Manasses knew that the and set up images to Baalim, and made Lord he is God. 14 And afterwards groves, and worshipped all the host of he built a wall without the city of heaven, and served them. And he David, from the southwest southwards built altars in the house of the Lord, in the valleys and at the Gr. torrent. concerning which the Lord said, In entrance through the fish- is ambiJerusalem shall be my name for ever. gate, as men go out by the guous. 5 And he built altars to all the host of gate round about, even as far as Opel; heaven in the two courts of the house and he raised it much, and set captains of the Lord. He also passed his of the host in all the fortified cities in children through the fire in the valley Juda. 15 And he removed the strange + See note, of Benennom, and he di-gods and the graven image out of the vined, and used auspices, house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and without the city. 16 And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and offered upon it a sacrifice of peace-offering and 'thank-offering, and he told + Gr. praise. Juda to serve the Lord God of Israel. "Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, only to the Lord their God. 18 And the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer to God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the God of Israel, 19 behold, they are in the *account of his prayer; and God + Gr. words. hearkened to him. And all his sins, and his backslidings, and the spots on which he built the high places, and set there groves and graven images, before he repented, behold, they are written in the books of the seers. 20 And Manasses slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the garden of his house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. and sorceries, and appointed those + More lit. who had divining spirits, ventriloquists. and enchanters,and wrought abundant wickedness before the Lord, to provoke him. And he set the graven image, the molten statue, the idol which he made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever. 8 And I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they will take heed to do all things which I have commanded them, according to all the law and the ordinances and the judgment given by the hand of Moses. 9 So Manasses led astray Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations which the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. 10 And + Or, against, the Lord spoke to Maor,concerning. nasses, and to his people: but they hearkened not. "And the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, and 21 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 And he did that which was evil in the sight 3 + it of the Lord, as his father Manasses did: | the land, and the house, he sent Saand Amon sacrificed to all the idols phan the son of Ezelias, and Maasa which his father Manasses had made, prefect of the city, and Juach son of and served them. 23 And he was not Joachaz his recorder, to repair the humbled before the Lord as his father house of the Lord his God. 9 And Manasses was humbled; for his son they came to Chelcias the high priest, Amon abounded in transgression. and gave the money that was brought 24 And his servants conspired against into the house of God, which the Lehim, and slew him in his house. 25 And vites who kept the gate collected of the people of the land slew the men the hand of Manasse and Ephraim, and who had conspired against king Amon; of the princes, and of every one that and the people of the land made Jo- was left in Israel, and of the children sias his son king in his stead. of Juda and Benjamin, and of the dwellers in Jerusalem. 10 And they 34. Josias was eight years old when gave it into the hand of the workmen, he began to reign, and he reigned who were appointed in the house of the thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And Lord, and they gave it to the workhe did that which was right in the men who wrought in the house of sight of the Lord, and walked in the the Lord, to repair and Gr. prepare. ways of his father David, and turned strengthen the house. 11 They gave + Gr. and. not aside to the right hand or also to the carpenters and builders, to to the left. And in the eighth year buy squared stones, and tim- or, hewn. of his reign, when he was yet a youth, ber for beams to cover the houses he began to seek the Lord God of his which the kings of Juda had destroyed. father David: and in the twelfth year 12 And the men were faithfully engaged of his reign he began to purge Juda in the works: and over them were and Jerusalem from the high places, superintendents, Jeth and Abdias, Leand the groves, and the ornaments for vites of the sons of Merari, and Zachathe altars, and the molten images. rias and Mosollam, of the sons of Kaath, And he pulled down the altars of appointed to oversee; and every Levite, Baalim that were before his face, and and every one that understood how to the high places that were above them; play on musical instruments. 13 And and he cut down the groves, and the overseers were over the burden-bearers, graven images, and broke in pieces the and over all the workmen in the remolten images, and reduced them to spective works, and of the Levites were powder, and cast it upon the surface of appointed scribes, and judges, and the tombs of those who had sacrificed porters. 14 And when they brought to them. And he burnt the bones of forth the money that had been brought the priests upon the altars, and purged into the house of the Lord, Chelcias Juda and Jerusalem. "And he did so the priest found a book of the law of in the cities of Manasse, and Ephraim, the Lord given by the hand of Moses. and Symeon, and Nephthali, and the 15 And Chelcias answered and said to places round about them. And he Saphan the scribe, I have found a book pulled down the altars and the groves, of the law in the house of the Lord. and he cut the idols in small pieces, And Chelcias gave the book to Saphan. and cut off all the high places from all 16And Saphan brought in the book to Alex. inserts the land of Israel, and re- the king, and moreover gave an acöre ouvréede turned to Jerusalem. And count to the king, saying, This is all finished.' in the eighteenth year of the money given into the hand of thy his reign, after having cleansed servants that work. "And they have 4 when he had + 501 7 + forth. collected the money that was found was ashamed, and thou wast humbled + Gr. melted. in the house of the Lord, before me when thou heardest my and given it into the hand of the over-words against this place, and against seers, and into the hand of them that the inhabitants of it, and thou wast do the work. 18 And Saphan the scribe humbled before me, and didst rend thy brought word to the king, saying, garments, and didst weep before me; Chelcias the priest has given me a I also have heard, says the Lord. book. And Saphan read it before the king. 19 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the law, that he rent his garments. 20 And the king commanded Chelcias, and Achicham the son of Saphan, and Abdom the son of Michaias, and Saphan the scribe, and Asaia the servant of the king, saying, "Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for every one that is left in Israel and Juda, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord which Or, famed has been kindled amongst us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of the Lord, to do according to all the things written in this book. 22 And Chelcias went, and the others whom the king told, to Olda the prophetess, the wife of Sellem son of Thecoe, son of Aras, who kept the commandments; and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second +Gr. paravai, quarter: and they spoke to her accordingly. And she said to them, Thus has the Lord God of Israel said, Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, + Gr. evils. Behold, I bring evil upon this place, even all the words that are written in the book that was read before the king of Juda: 25 because they have forsaken me, and burnt incense to strange gods, that they might provoke me by all the works of their Gr.has flamed hands; and my wrath is forth. kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. concerning the king of Juda, who sent you to seek the Lord,-thus shall ye say to him, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, As for the words which thou hast heard, 27 forasmuch as thy heart Heb. word. 24 23 26 And 28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not look upon all the evils which I am bringing upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of it. And they brought back word to the king 29 And the king sent and gathered the elders of Juda and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, he and all Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that were found in the house of the Lord. 31And the king stood at a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk before the Lord, to keep his commandments and testimonies, and his ordinances, with all his heart and with all his soul, so as to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand; and the inhabitants of Jerusalem made a covenant in the house of the Lord God of their fathers. 33 And Josias removed all the abominations out of the whole land which belonged to the children of Israel, and caused all that were found in Jerusalem and in Israel, to serve the Lord their God all his days: he behind. departed not * from following the Lord God of his fathers. + Gr. from 35. And Josias kept a passover to the Lord his God; and sacrificed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he appointed the priests at their charges, and encouraged them for the services of the house of |