Manasseh Reigns in Judah

33 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to ^(B)the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(C)that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made ^(D)Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(E)“In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in ^(F)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (G)And he burned his sons as an offering ^(H)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and ^(I)used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with ^(J)mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And ^(K)the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God 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, ^(L)I will put my name forever, ⁸ and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land ^(M)that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Repentance

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. ^11 (N)Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and ^(O)bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. ¹² And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God ^(P)and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ He prayed to him, and ^(Q)God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. ^(R)Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of ^(S)Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into ^(T)the Fish Gate, and carried it around ^(U)Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. ¹⁵ And ^(V)he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. ¹⁶ He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ^17 (W)Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and ^(X)his prayer to his God, and the words of ^(Y)the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the ^(Z)Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁹ And his prayer, and how ^(AA)God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites ^(AB)on which he built high places and set up the ^(AC)Asherim and the images, before ^(AD)he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.^{[a] 20} So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon's Reign and Death

^21 (AE)Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images ^(AF)that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³ And he did not humble himself before the Lord, ^(AG)as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more. ²⁴ And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house. ²⁵ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Josiah Reigns in Judah

34 ^(AH)Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the ^(AI)Asherim, and the carved and the metal images. ⁴ And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the ^(AJ)incense altars that stood above them. And he broke in pieces the ^(AK)Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and ^(AL)scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ^5 (AM)He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ And in the ^(AN)cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins^[b] all around, ⁷ he broke down the altars and beat the ^(AO)Asherim and the images ^(AP)into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

The Book of the Law Found

^8 (AQ)Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the ^(AR)governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, ^(AS)the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. ⁹ They came to ^(AT)Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from ^(AU)Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And they gave it to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord. And the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. ¹¹ They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timber for binders and ^(AV)beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. ¹² And the men did the work faithfully. Over them were set Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. ^(AW)The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music, ¹³ were over ^(AX)the burden-bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service, and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, ^(AY)Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given through^[c] Moses. ¹⁵ Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ Shaphan brought the book to the king, and further reported to the king, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. ¹⁷ They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king.

¹⁹ And when the king heard the words of the Law, ^(AZ)he tore his clothes. ²⁰ And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, ²¹ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is ^(BA)the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

Huldah Prophesies Disaster

²² So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent^[d] went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect. ²³ And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴ Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have forsaken me and ^(BB)have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore ^(BC)my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. ²⁶ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, ²⁷ because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. ²⁸ Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.’” And they brought back word to the king.

^29 (BD)Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. ³¹ And the king ^(BE)stood in his place ^(BF)and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³² Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ And Josiah took away ^(BG)all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

¹⁶ Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered ^(A)the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul ^(B)the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” ¹⁹ The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” ²⁰ And he said, ^(C)“The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. ²¹ But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who ^(D)have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” ²² So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.^{[a] 24} Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to ^(E)Felix ^(F)the governor.” ²⁵ And he wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶ “Claudius Lysias, to ^(G)his Excellency the governor Felix, ^(H)greetings. ^27 (I)This man was seized by the Jews and ^(J)was about to be killed by them ^(K)when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, ^(L)having learned that he was a Roman citizen. ²⁸ And ^(M)desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. ²⁹ I found that he was being accused ^(N)about questions of their law, but ^(O)charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. ^30 (P)And when it was disclosed to me ^(Q)that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ^(R)ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

³¹ So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² And on the next day they returned to ^(S)the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. ³³ When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. ³⁴ On reading the letter, he asked what ^(T)province he was from. And when he learned ^(U)that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing ^(V)when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's ^(W)praetorium.