Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and he covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house (temple) of the LORD.

²Then he sent Eliakim who was in charge of his household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

³They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This is a day of distress and anxiety, of punishment and humiliation; for children have come to [the time of their] birth and there is no strength to rescue them.

⁴It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. So offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left [in Judah].'"

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶Isaiah said to them, "Say this to your master: 'Thus says the LORD, "Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled (blasphemed) Me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"

⁸So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah [a fortified city of Judah]; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

⁹When the king heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has come out to make war against you," he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰"Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem shall not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

¹¹Listen, you have heard what the Assyrian kings have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared?

¹²Did the gods of the nations whom my forefathers destroyed rescue them—Gozan and Haran [of Mesopotamia] and Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad [of northern Syria], the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?'"

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the house (temple) of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁶O LORD, bend down Your ear and hear; LORD, open Your eyes and see; hear the [taunting] words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt and defy the living God.

¹⁷It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have devastated the nations and their lands

¹⁸and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not [real] gods but [only] the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they [could destroy them and] have destroyed them.

¹⁹Now, O LORD our God, please, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know [without any doubt] that You alone, O LORD, are God."

²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I have heard your prayer to Me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria.'

²¹This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: 'The virgin daughter of Zion Has despised you and mocked you; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind you!

²²'Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²³'Through your messengers you have taunted and defied the Lord, And have said [boastfully], "With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedar trees and its choicest cypress trees. I entered its most distant lodging, its densest forest.

²⁴"I dug wells and drank foreign waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of [the Lower Nile of] Egypt."

²⁵'Have you not heard [asks the God of Israel]? Long ago I did it; From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁶'Therefore their inhabitants were powerless, They were shattered [in spirit] and put to shame; They were like plants of the field, the green herb, As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.

²⁷'But I [the LORD] know your sitting down [O Sennacherib], Your going out, your coming in, And your raging against Me.

²⁸'Because of your raging against Me, And because your arrogance and complacency have come up to My ears, I will put My hook in your nose, And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back [to Assyria] by the way that you came.

²⁹'Then this shall be the sign [of these things] to you [Hezekiah]: this year you will eat what grows of itself, in the second year what springs up voluntarily, and in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³⁰The survivors who remain of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

³¹For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and [a band of] survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall perform this.

³²'Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: "He will not come to this city [Jerusalem] nor shoot an arrow there; nor will he come before it with a shield nor throw up a siege ramp against it.

³³By the way that he came, by the same way he will return, and he will not come into this city,"' declares the LORD.

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

³⁵Then it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down 185,000 [men] in the camp of the Assyrians; when the survivors got up early in the morning, behold, all [185,000] of them were dead.

³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and returned home, and lived at Nineveh.

³⁷It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

¹In those days [when Sennacherib first invaded Judah] Hezekiah became deathly ill. The prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not recover.'"

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying,

³"Please, O LORD, remember now [with compassion] how I have walked before You in faithfulness and truth and with a whole heart [entirely devoted to You], and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

⁵"Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father (ancestor): "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

⁶I will add fifteen years to your life and save you and this city [Jerusalem] from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."'"

⁷Then Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And they brought it and placed it on the [painful] inflammation, and he recovered."

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

⁹Isaiah said, "This will be the sign to you from the LORD, that He will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow [indicating the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go backward ten steps?"

¹⁰Hezekiah answered, "It is easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps."

¹¹So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow on the steps ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

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

¹³Hezekiah listened to and welcomed them and [ foolishly] showed them all his treasure house—the silver and gold and spices and precious oil and his armory and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house (palace) nor in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say [that would cause you to do this for them]? From where have they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon."

¹⁵Isaiah said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything that is in my house (palace). There is nothing in my treasuries that I have not shown them."

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

¹⁷Behold, the time is coming when everything that is in your house, and that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,' says the LORD.

¹⁸And some of your sons (descendants) who will be born to you will be taken away [as captives]; and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Is it not good, if [at least] there will be peace and security in my lifetime?"

²⁰The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the [Siloam] pool and the aqueduct and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²¹Hezekiah slept with his fathers [in death], and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.

²He did [great] evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with the [idolatrous] repulsive acts of the [pagan] nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

³For he rebuilt the high places [for the worship of pagan gods] which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he set up altars for Baal and made an [image of] Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served them.

⁴And he built [pagan] altars in the house (temple) of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put My Name (Presence)."

⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD.

⁶He made his son pass through the fire and burned him [as an offering to Molech]; he practiced witchcraft and divination, and dealt with mediums and soothsayers. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

⁷He made a carved image of the [goddess] Asherah and set it up in the house (temple), of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house and in Jerusalem [in the tribe of Judah], which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever.

⁸"And I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will be careful to act in accordance with everything that I have commanded them, and with all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

⁹But they did not listen; and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

¹⁰Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying,

¹¹"Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these repulsive acts, having done more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;

¹²therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such catastrophe on Jerusalem and Judah, that everyone who hears of it, both of his ears will ring [from the shock].

¹³I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes a [dirty] bowl clean, wiping it and turning it upside down.

¹⁴I will abandon the remnant (remainder) of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies; and they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,

¹⁵because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger, since the day their fathers came from Egypt to this day.'"

¹⁶Moreover, Manasseh shed a very great quantity of innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, by doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁷Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, everything that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

¹⁸Manasseh slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon became king in his place.

¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

²⁰He also did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh had done.

²¹He walked in all the [evil] ways that his father had walked; and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them;

²²he abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.

²³But the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house (palace).

²⁴Then the people of the land [of Judah] killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁵Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁶He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

¹Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

²He did what was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father (ancestor) David, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

³In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam the scribe to the house of the LORD, saying,

⁴"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, so that he may count the entire amount of money brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

⁵And have them deliver it to the hands of the workmen who have been appointed over the house of the LORD, and have them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the LORD to repair the damages of the house—

⁶that is, [have them give the money] to the carpenters and the builders and the masons—and to buy timber and cut stones to repair the house (temple).

⁷However, no accounting shall be required of them for the money placed in their hands, because they act faithfully."

⁸Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house (temple) of the LORD." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

⁹Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to him: "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have placed it in the hands of the workmen who have been appointed over the house of the LORD."

¹⁰Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it [aloud] before the king.

¹¹Now when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.

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

¹³"Go, inquire of the LORD for my sake and for the sake of the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book which has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD which has been kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to and obeyed the words of this book, so as to act in accordance with everything that is written concerning us."

¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (she was living in Jerusalem, in the Second Quarter [the new part of the city]); and they spoke to her.

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

¹⁶thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am bringing a catastrophe on this place (Judah) and on its inhabitants, [according to] all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.

¹⁷Because they have abandoned (rejected) 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 burns against this place, and it will not be quenched."'

¹⁸But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, you shall say this to him: 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Regarding the words which you have heard,

¹⁹because your heart was tender (receptive, penitent) and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I said against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you," declares the LORD.

²⁰Therefore, behold, [King Josiah,] I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be taken to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil (catastrophe) which I will bring on this place."'" So they brought back word to the king.

¹King Josiah sent word and they brought to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

²The king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house (temple) of the LORD.

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

⁴Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, for [the goddess] Asherah, and for all the [starry] host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel [where Israel's idolatry began].

⁵He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense [to pagan gods] in the high places in Judah's cities and all around Jerusalem—also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations [of the zodiac], and to all the [starry] host of heaven.

⁶Josiah brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, and burned it there, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people [who had sacrificed to it].

⁷And he tore down the houses of the [male] cult prostitutes, which were at the house (temple) of the LORD, where the women were weaving [tent] hangings for the Asherah [shrines].

⁸Then Josiah brought all the [idolatrous] priests from the cities of Judah, and desecrated the high places where the priests had burned incense [to idols], from Geba to Beersheba, [that is, north to south]; and he tore down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the city gate.

⁹However, the priests of the high places were not allowed to go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem [to serve], but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

¹⁰Josiah also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire [as a burnt offering] for Molech.

¹¹And he got rid of the horses that the kings of Judah had given [in worship] to the sun at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the annex; and he burned the chariots of the sun.

¹²The altars [dedicated to the starry host of heaven] which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD, the king tore down; and he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.

¹³The king desecrated the high places which were opposite [east of] Jerusalem, which were on the right (south) of the mount of corruption which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the repulsiveness of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the repulsiveness of Moab, and for Milcom the repulsiveness of the sons (descendants) of Ammon.

¹⁴He broke in pieces the sacred pillars (cultic memorial stones, images) and cut down the Asherim and replaced them with human bones [to desecrate the places forever].

¹⁵Further, the altar that was at Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

¹⁶And as Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and had the bones taken from the graves, and burned them on the altar and [thereby] desecrated it, in accordance with the word of the LORD which the man of God prophesied, who proclaimed these things [about this altar, naming Josiah before he was born].

¹⁷Then Josiah said, "What is this monument (gravestone) that I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done to the altar of Bethel."

¹⁸He said, "Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

¹⁹Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking the LORD [to anger]; and he did to them just as he had done [to those] in Bethel.

²⁰All the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars, and burned human bones on them [to desecrate the places forever]. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹Then the king commanded all the people, saying, "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this book of the covenant."

²²Indeed, such a Passover as this had not been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

²³But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover to the LORD was kept in Jerusalem.

²⁴Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the soothsayers and the teraphim (household gods) and the idols and all the repulsive things that were seen in Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might fulfill the words of the law written in the book which Hilkiah the priest found in the house (temple) of the LORD.

²⁵Before him there was no king like Josiah who turned to the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his might, in accordance with all the Law of Moses; nor did anyone like him arise after him.

²⁶However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath which was kindled against Judah because of all the despicable acts with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

²⁷The LORD said, "I will also remove Judah from My sight, just as I have removed Israel; and will reject this city which I have chosen, this Jerusalem, and the house, of which I said, 'My Name [and the pledge of My Presence] shall be there.'"

²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

²⁹In his days Pharaoh Neco (Necho) king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates [to help him fight Nabopolassar the king of Babylon]. King Josiah went out to meet him, but Pharaoh killed Josiah at Megiddo when he saw him.

³⁰Josiah's servants carried his dead body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in his father's place.

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned for [only] three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

³²He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that his forefathers had done.

³³Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed a fine on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

³⁴Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, where he died.

³⁵Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money as Pharaoh commanded. He collected the silver and gold from the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

³⁷He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that his forefathers had done.

¹In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

²The LORD sent marauding bands of Chaldeans, Arameans (Syrians), Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim. And He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke through His servants the prophets.

³Surely this came on Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of [King] Manasseh, in accordance with everything that he had done,

⁴and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not pardon it.

⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers [in death], and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

⁷The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned [only] three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

⁹He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that his father had done.

¹⁰At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

¹¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

¹²Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his [palace] officials. So the king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his [own] reign.

¹³He carried out of there (Jerusalem) all the treasures of the house (temple) of the LORD, and the treasures of the house (palace) of the king, and cut in pieces all the articles of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the LORD had said.

¹⁴He led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the brave men, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.

¹⁵Nebuchadnezzar led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also he took the king's mother and the king's wives and his officials and the leading men of the land [including Ezekiel] as exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹⁶And the king of Babylon brought as exiles to Babylon all the brave men, seven thousand [of them], and the craftsmen and the smiths, a thousand [of them], all strong and fit for war.

¹⁷Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

¹⁹He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰Because of the anger of the LORD these things happened in Jerusalem and Judah, and it [finally] came to the point that He cast them from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

¹Now in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he with all his army, against Jerusalem, and camped against it and built siege works surrounding it.

²The city came under siege [for nearly two years] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine [caused by the siege] was severe in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.

⁴Then the city [wall] was broken into [and conquered]; all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans (Babylonians) were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah (the plain of the Jordan).

⁵The army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Then his entire army was dispersed from him.

⁶So they seized the king (Zedekiah) and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah [on the Orontes River], and sentence was passed on him.

⁷They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him [hand and foot] with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

⁸On the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

⁹He burned the house (temple) of the LORD, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.

¹⁰All the army of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) who were with the captain of the bodyguard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard deported [into exile] the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had joined the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

¹²But the captain of the bodyguard left some of the unimportant and poorest people of the land to be vineyard workers and farmers.

¹³Now the Chaldeans (Babylonians) smashed the bronze pillars which were in the house of the LORD and their bases and the bronze sea (large basin) which were in the house of the LORD, and carried the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁴They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze articles which were used in the temple service,

¹⁵the captain of the bodyguard also took away the firepans and basins, anything made of fine gold and anything made of fine silver.

¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea (large basin), and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable.

¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (27 ft.), and a capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of the capital was three cubits (4.5 ft.); a network (lattice work) and pomegranates around the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

¹⁸The captain of the bodyguard took [captive] Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers [of the temple].

¹⁹And from the city [of Jerusalem] he took an officer who was in command of the men of war, and five men from the king's personal advisors who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land [for military service] and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city.

²⁰Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²¹Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile from its land.

²²Now over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah, he appointed [as governor] Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

²³When all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite.

²⁴Gedaliah swore [an oath] to them and their men, and said to them, "Do not be afraid of the servants (officials) of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you."

²⁵But in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [who had a claim to be governor], came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces set out and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).

²⁷Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison;

²⁸and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the [other] kings [of captive peoples] who were with him in Babylon.

²⁹Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes [for palace garments] and he dined regularly in the king's presence for the remainder of his life;

³⁰and his allowance, a continual one, was given to him by the king (Evil-meridach), a portion every day, for the rest of his life.

¹Adam [his genealogical line], Seth, Enosh,

²Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

³Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,

⁴Noah, [and his sons] Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

⁵The sons (descendants) of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

⁶The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath, and Togarmah.

⁷The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

⁸The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁹The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

¹⁰Cush became the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one upon the earth.

¹¹Mizraim became the father of the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh,

¹²Pathrus, and Casluh, from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtor.

¹³Canaan became the father of Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,

¹⁴the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,

¹⁵Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,

¹⁶Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites.

¹⁷The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

¹⁸Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.

¹⁹To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his days [the population of] the earth was divided [according to its languages], and his brother's name was Joktan.

²⁰Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

²¹Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

²²Ebal, Abimael, Sheba,

²³Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

²⁴Shem [his genealogical line], Arpachshad, Shelah,

²⁵Eber, Peleg, Reu,

²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah,

²⁷Abram, the same as Abraham.

²⁸The sons of Abraham: Isaac [by his wife Sarah] and Ishmael [by Hagar her maid].

²⁹These are their descendants: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

³⁰Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,

³¹Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael.

³²Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.

³³The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these are the sons [and grandsons] of Keturah.

³⁴Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel (Jacob).

³⁵The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

³⁶The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek.

³⁷The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

³⁸The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

³⁹The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam; and Timna was Lotan's sister.

⁴⁰The sons of Shobal: Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah.

⁴¹The son of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hamran, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

⁴²The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Jaakan. The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

⁴³These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob): Bela the son of Beor; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

⁴⁴When Bela died, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place.

⁴⁵When Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place.

⁴⁶When Husham died, Hadad [I of Edom] the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; the name of his city was Avith.

⁴⁷When Hadad [I] died, Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place.

⁴⁸When Samlah died, Shaul of Rehoboth on the River [Euphrates] became king in his place.

⁴⁹When Shaul died, Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place.

⁵⁰When Baal-hanan died, Hadad [II] became king in his place; the name of his city was Pai; his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

⁵¹Hadad died also. The chiefs of Edom were: chiefs Timna, Aliah, Jetheth,

⁵²Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

⁵³Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

⁵⁴Magdiel, and Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom.

¹These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

²Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

³The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; the three were born to him by Shua's daughter the Canaanitess. Er, Judah's eldest, was evil in the Lord's sight, and He put him to death.

⁴Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah's sons were five in all.

⁵The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

⁶The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara—five in all.

⁷The son of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who violated the ban [by taking things from Jericho that had been banned].

⁸The son of Ethan: Azariah.

⁹The sons of Hezron who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai [that is, Caleb].

¹⁰Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, leader of the sons of Judah.

¹¹Nahshon became the father of Salma, Salma became the father of Boaz,

¹²Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse.

¹³Jesse became the father of Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third,

¹⁴Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,

¹⁵Ozem the sixth, David the seventh.

¹⁶Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three.

¹⁷Abigail gave birth to Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.

¹⁸And Caleb the son of Hezron had sons by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. Azubah's sons were: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

¹⁹Azubah died, and Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.

²⁰Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel [the skillful craftsman who made the furnishings of the tabernacle].

²¹Later, when Hezron was sixty years old, he married the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, and she bore him Segub.

²²Segub became the father of Jair, who [later] had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

²³But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, with Kenath and its villages, sixty towns in all. All these were the sons (descendants) of Machir, the father of Gilead.

²⁴After Hezron died in Caleb-ephrathah, Abijah, Hezron's wife, bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.

²⁵The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron: Ram the firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.

²⁶Jerahmeel had another wife, named Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

²⁷The sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.

²⁸The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.

²⁹The name of Abishur's wife was Abihail; she bore him Ahban and Molid.

³⁰The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim. Seled died childless.

³¹The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai.

³²The sons of Jada the brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died childless.

³³The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons (descendants) of Jerahmeel.

³⁴Sheshan had no sons—only daughters. But Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.

³⁵So Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as a wife; she bore him Attai.

³⁶Attai became the father of Nathan, and Nathan became the father of Zabad.

³⁷Zabad became the father of Ephlal, and Ephlal became the father of Obed.

³⁸Obed became the father of Jehu, and Jehu became the father of Azariah.

³⁹Azariah became the father of Helez, and Helez became the father of Eleasah.

⁴⁰Eleasah became the father of Sismai, and Sismai became the father of Shallum.

⁴¹Shallum became the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah became the father of Elishama.

⁴²The sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn was the father of Ziph; and his son Mareshah was the father of Hebron.

⁴³The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

⁴⁴Shema became the father of Raham, the father of Jorkeam. And Rekem became the father of Shammai.

⁴⁵The son of Shammai was Maon; Maon became the father of Bethzur.

⁴⁶Ephah, Caleb's concubine, gave birth to Haran, Moza, and Gazez; Haran became the father of Gazez.

⁴⁷The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.

⁴⁸Maacah, Caleb's concubine, gave birth to Sheber and Tirhanah.

⁴⁹She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah and Sheva the father of Machbena and of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.

⁵⁰These were the sons (descendants) of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim,

⁵¹Salma the father of Bethlehem and Hareph the father of Beth-gader.

⁵²Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had [other] sons (descendants): Haroeh, half of the Manahathites [in Judah],

⁵³and the families of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.

⁵⁴The sons (descendants) of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites.

⁵⁵The families of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

¹These were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; second, Daniel (Chileab), by Abigail the Carmelitess;

²third, Absalom the son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith;

³fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah.

⁴These six were born to David in Hebron; he reigned there seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

⁵These were born to David in Jerusalem: Shimea (Shammua), Shobab, Nathan, Solomon—four by Bath-shua (Bathsheba) daughter of Ammiel (Eliam);

⁶then Ibhar, Elishama (Elishua), Eliphelet (Elpelet),

⁷Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

⁸Elishama, Eliada (Beeliada), and Eliphelet—nine in all.

⁹All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister.

¹⁰Solomon's son was Rehoboam. Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,

¹¹Joram (Jehoram) his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,

¹²Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,

¹³Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,

¹⁴Amon his son, Josiah his son.

¹⁵The sons of Josiah: firstborn, Johanan; second, Jehoiakim (Eliakim); third, Zedekiah; fourth, Shallum (Jehoahaz).

¹⁶The sons (descendants) of Jehoiakim: Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) his son, Zedekiah his son.

¹⁷The sons (descendants) of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) the prisoner: Shealtiel his son,

¹⁸Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah.

¹⁹The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister;

²⁰and Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed—five in all.

²¹The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah.

²²The sons (descendants) of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. The sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat—six in all.

²³The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam—three in all.

²⁴The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani—seven in all.

¹The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

²Reaiah the son of Shobal became the father of Jahath, and Jahath became the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the families of the Zorathites.

³These were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi.

⁴Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the eldest of Ephrathah (Ephrath), the father of Bethlehem.

⁵Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

⁶Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. These were Naarah's sons.

⁷The sons of Helah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan.

⁸Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum.

⁹Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez, saying, "Because I gave birth to him in pain."

¹⁰Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my border [property], and that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil so that it does not hurt me!" And God granted his request.

¹¹Chelub the brother of Shuhah became the father of Mehir, the father of Eshton.

¹²Eshton became the father of Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah.

¹³The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai.

¹⁴Meonothai became the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah became the father of Joab the father of Ge-harashim [the Valley of Craftsmen, so named] because they were craftsmen.

¹⁵The sons of Caleb [Joshua's companion] the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz.

¹⁶The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

¹⁷The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithia daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took: she conceived and gave birth to Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

¹⁸Mered's Jewish wife gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

¹⁹The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were: the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

²⁰The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Benhanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

²¹The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea;

²²and Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem. These are ancient words (genealogical records).

²³These were the potters and those who lived [among plantations and hedges] at Netaim and Gederah; they lived there with the king for his work.

²⁴The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul;

²⁵Shallum was Shaul's son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.

²⁶The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.

²⁷Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many sons, neither did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah.

²⁸They lived at Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

²⁹Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

³⁰Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

³¹Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities until the reign of David.

³²These were their villages: Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan—five cities—

³³and all their villages that were around these towns as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they have their genealogical record.

³⁴Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah the son of Amaziah,

³⁵Joel, Jehu the son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel,

³⁶also Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,

³⁷Ziza the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah;

³⁸these mentioned by name were leaders in their families; and their fathers' houses increased greatly [so they needed more land].

³⁹So they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.

⁴⁰They found rich, good pasture, and the [cleared] land was wide, quiet, and peaceful; for those who had lived there previously came from Ham [and had left it a better place for those who came after them].

⁴¹These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and they attacked their tents and the Meunites (foreigners) who were found there, and utterly destroyed them to this day; and they settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks.

⁴²From them, from the sons of Simeon, five hundred men went to Mount Seir, with Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, as their leaders.

⁴³They destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and they have lived there to this day (the date of this writing).

¹Now [we come to] the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—for Reuben was the eldest, but because he defiled his father's bed [with Bilhah his father's concubine], his birthright was given to [Manasseh and Ephraim] the sons of Joseph [the favorite] son of Israel, so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright.

²Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came [David] the leader [and eventually the Messiah], yet the birthright was Joseph's—

³the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

⁴The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,

⁵Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,

⁶Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a leader of the tribe of Reuben.

⁷And his brothers (relatives) by their families, in the genealogy of their generations, were the chief Jeiel, and Zechariah,

⁸Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who lived in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.

⁹To the east Bela settled as far as the entrance into the desert from the river Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

¹⁰In the days of King Saul they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hands; and they lived in their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead.

¹¹The sons of Gad lived opposite them in the land of Bashan, as far as Salecah:

¹²Joel was the chief, Shapham the second, then Janai and Shaphat in Bashan.

¹³Their relatives from the households of their fathers: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber—seven in all.

¹⁴These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz;

¹⁵Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, was chief in their fathers' households.

¹⁶They lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the [surrounding] pasture lands of Sharon, as far as their borders.

¹⁷All these were enrolled in the genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel.

¹⁸The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—valiant men able to bear shield and sword, and to shoot with the bow, and skillful in war—were 44,760 who went to war.

¹⁹And these Israelites, [on the east side of the Jordan River] made war with the Hagrites [a tribe of northern Arabia], Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.

²⁰They were given help against them, and the Hagrites were handed over to them, and all who were allied with them; for they cried out to God [for help] in the battle; and He granted their entreaty because they relied on and trusted in Him.

²¹These Israelites took away their livestock: their 50,000 camels, and 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys; and 100,000 people.

²²For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was of God. And these Israelites settled in their territory until the exile [by Assyria more than five centuries later].

²³Now the sons (people) of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land; their settlements spread from Bashan to Baal-hermon and Senir and Mount Hermon.

²⁴These were the heads of their fathers' households: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, warriors of valor [willing and able to encounter danger], famous men, and heads of the households of their fathers.

²⁵But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the prostitute with the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

²⁶So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, [that is,] the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away into exile—the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, [where they remain] to this day.

¹The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath and Merari.

²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

³The sons of Amram: Aaron, Moses and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

⁴Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas became the father of Abishua,

⁵and Abishua became the father of Bukki, and Bukki became the father of Uzzi,

⁶and Uzzi became the father of Zerahiah, and Zerahiah became the father of Meraioth,

⁷Meraioth became the father of Amariah, and Amariah became the father of Ahitub,

⁸and Ahitub became the father of Zadok, and Zadok became the father of Ahimaaz,

⁹and Ahimaaz became the father of Azariah, and Azariah became the father of Johanan,

¹⁰and Johanan became the father of Azariah (it was he who was priest in the house (temple) which Solomon built in Jerusalem)

¹¹and Azariah became the father of Amariah, and Amariah became the father of Ahitub,

¹²and Ahitub became the father of Zadok, and Zadok became the father of Shallum,

¹³and Shallum became the father of Hilkiah, and Hilkiah became the father of Azariah,

¹⁴and Azariah became the father of Seraiah, and Seraiah became the father of Jehozadak;

¹⁵and Jehozadak went into captivity when the LORD sent [the people of] Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁶The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

¹⁷These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers.

²⁰Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,

²¹Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son.

²²The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son,

²³Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son,

²⁴Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son.

²⁵The sons of Elkanah: Amasai and Ahimoth.

²⁶As for Elkanah, the sons of Elkanah: Zophai his son and Nahath his son,

²⁷Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah [Samuel's father] his son.

²⁸The sons of Samuel: Joel the firstborn and Abijah the second.

²⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzza his son,

³⁰Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.

³¹Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the LORD after the ark [of the covenant] rested there.

³²They ministered with singing before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon had built the Lord's house (temple) in Jerusalem, performing their service in due order.

³³These men and their sons served from the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel [the great prophet and judge],

³⁴the son of Elkanah [III], the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,

³⁵the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah [II], the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai,

³⁶the son of Elkanah [I], the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah,

³⁷the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,

³⁸the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel (Jacob).

³⁹Heman's [tribal] brother Asaph stood at his right hand: Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,

⁴⁰the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchijah,

⁴¹the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah,

⁴²the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei,

⁴³the son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi.

⁴⁴Their relatives the sons of Merari stood at the left hand: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,

⁴⁵the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah,

⁴⁶the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer,

⁴⁷the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi.

⁴⁸Their relatives the Levites [who were not descended from Aaron] were appointed for all the other kinds of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

⁴⁹But [the line of] Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, ministering for all the work of the Holy of Holies (Most Holy Place), and [they did so] to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses, God's servant, had commanded.

⁵⁰These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son,

⁵¹Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son,

⁵²Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son,

⁵³Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

⁵⁴Now these are their settlements according to their camps within their borders: to the sons of Aaron of the families of the Kohathites (for theirs was the first allocation by lot)

⁵⁵to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasture land;

⁵⁶but the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

⁵⁷To the sons of Aaron they gave the following cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasture lands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

⁵⁸Hilen with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

⁵⁹Ashan with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands;

⁶⁰and from the tribe of Benjamin: Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth, with their pasture lands. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities.

⁶¹Then to the rest of the sons of Kohath were given ten cities by lot from the family of the tribe [of Ephraim and of Dan and], from the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh.

⁶²To the sons of Gershom, according to their families, were given thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and [the other half of] Manasseh in Bashan.

⁶³To the sons of Merari were given twelve cities by lot, according to their families, from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁶⁴So the sons of Israel gave to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands.

⁶⁵They gave by lot from the tribes of the sons of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these cities which are mentioned by name.

⁶⁶Some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their [allotted] territory from the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁷They gave to the Levites the following cities of refuge: Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim with its pasture lands, Gezer with its pasture lands;

⁶⁸Jokmeam and Beth-horon with their pasture lands,

⁶⁹Aijalon and Gath-rimmon, with their pasture lands;

⁷⁰and from the half-tribe of Manasseh [these cities], with their pasture lands: Aner and Bileam, for the rest of the families of the sons of Kohath.

⁷¹To the sons of Gershom were given from the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan and Ashtaroth, with their pasture lands;

⁷²from the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh and Daberath with their pasture lands,

⁷³Ramoth and Anem with their pasture lands;

⁷⁴from the tribe of Asher: Mashal and Abdon with their pasture lands,

⁷⁵Hukok and Rehob with their pasture lands;

⁷⁶and from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim with their pasture lands.

⁷⁷To the rest of the Levites, the sons of Merari were given, from the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono and Tabor, with their pasture lands;

⁷⁸and on the other side of the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan the Levites were given, from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness and Jahzah with their pasture lands,

⁷⁹Kedemoth and Mephaath with their pasture lands;

⁸⁰from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead and Mahanaim with their pasture lands,

⁸¹Heshbon and Jazer with their pasture lands.