²⁵ Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁶ Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up.

²⁷ But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me.

²⁸ Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came."

²⁹ "'This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

³⁰ The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

³¹ For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of Yahweh will perform this.'

³² "Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, 'He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.

³³ By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city,' says Yahweh.

³⁴ 'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

³⁵ It happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.

³⁷ It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

¹ In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.'"

² Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying,

³ "Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

⁵ "Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of Yahweh.

⁶ I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake."'"

⁷ Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs." They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?"

⁹ Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps."

¹¹ Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

¹² At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

¹³ Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? From where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They are come from a far country, even from Babylon."

¹⁵ He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

¹⁶ Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of Yahweh.

¹⁷ 'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says Yahweh.

¹⁸ 'Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?"

²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²¹ Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hephzibah.

² He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.

³ For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.

⁴ He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."

⁵ He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.

⁶ He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

⁷ He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;

⁸ neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."

⁹ But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰ Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,

¹¹ "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols;

¹² therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.

¹³ I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

¹⁴ I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;

¹⁵ because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.'"

¹⁶ Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

¹⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

¹⁸ Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place.

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

²⁰ He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father.

²¹ He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them:

²² and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn't walk in the way of Yahweh.

²³ The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house.

²⁴ But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

² He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

³ It happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Yahweh, saying,

⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.

⁵ Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of Yahweh, to repair the breaches of the house,

⁶ to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.

⁷ However there was no accounting made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully."

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh." Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

⁹ Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh."

¹⁰ Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me." Shaphan read it before the king.

¹¹ It happened, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes.

¹² The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

¹³ "Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us."

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her.

¹⁵ She said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me,

¹⁶ "Thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.

¹⁷ Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.'"

¹⁸ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall tell him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Concerning the words which you have heard,

¹⁹ because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,' says Yahweh.

²⁰ 'Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the evil which I will bring on this place.'"'" They brought back this message to the king.

¹ The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

² The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh.

³ The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

⁴ The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

⁵ He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.

⁶ He brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.

⁷ He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.

⁸ He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

⁹ Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn't come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.