Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s temple.

²He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

³They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,

⁶who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The LORD says this: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.

⁷I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

⁸When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish, he left and found him fighting against Libnah.

⁹The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

¹¹Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: They completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?

¹²Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — nations such as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’”

¹⁴Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the LORD’s temple, and spread it out before the LORD.

¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD: LORD God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

¹⁶Listen closely, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

¹⁷LORD, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands.

¹⁸They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands — wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

¹⁹Now, LORD our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are God — you alone.

²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.’

²¹This is the word the LORD has spoken against him: Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.

²²Who is it you mocked and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²³You have mocked the Lord through your messengers. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its farthest outpost, its densest forest.

²⁴I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.’

²⁵Have you not heard? I designed it long ago; I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass, and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.

²⁶Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.

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

²⁸Because your raging against me and your arrogance have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.

²⁹“This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³⁰The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

³¹For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will accomplish this.

³²Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city, shoot an arrow here, come before it with a shield, or build up a siege ramp against it.

³³He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁴I will defend this city and rescue it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵That night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning — there were all the dead bodies!

³⁶So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.

³⁷One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.

¹In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

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

³“Please, LORD, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the LORD came to him:

⁵“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the LORD’s temple.

⁶I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the LORD’s temple on the third day?”

⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.”

¹¹So the prophet Isaiah called out to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

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

¹³Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil — and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD:

¹⁷‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.

¹⁸‘Some of your descendants — who come from you, whom you father — will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?

²⁰The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool and the tunnel and brought water into the city, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

²¹Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

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

²He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites.

³He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them.

⁴He built altars in the LORD’s temple, where the LORD had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”

⁵He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the LORD’s temple.

⁶He sacrificed his son in the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a huge amount of evil in the LORD’s sight, angering him.

⁷Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the LORD had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

⁸I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them — the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”

⁹But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

¹⁰The LORD said through his servants the prophets,

¹¹“Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts  — worse evil than the Amorites who preceded him had done — and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin,

¹²this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.

¹³I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl — wiping it and turning it upside down.

¹⁴I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,

¹⁵because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”

¹⁶Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another. This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the LORD’s sight.

¹⁷The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

¹⁸Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. 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 daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah.

²⁰He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.

²¹He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he bowed in worship to them.

²²He abandoned the LORD God of his ancestors and did not walk in the ways of the LORD.

²³Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.

²⁴The common people killed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁵The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

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 he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.

²He did what was right in the LORD’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left.

³In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent the court secretary Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the LORD’s temple, saying,

⁴“Go up to the high priest Hilkiah so that he may total up the silver brought into the LORD’s temple — the silver the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

⁵It is to be given to those doing the work — those who oversee the LORD’s temple. They in turn are to give it to the workmen in the LORD’s temple to repair the damage.

⁶They are to give it to the carpenters, builders, and masons to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the temple.

⁷But no accounting is to be required from them for the silver given to them since they work with integrity.”

⁸The high priest Hilkiah told the court secretary Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the LORD’s temple,” and he gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹Then the court secretary Shaphan went to the king and reported, “Your servants have emptied out the silver that was found in the temple and have given it to those doing the work — those who oversee the LORD’s temple.”

¹⁰Then the court secretary Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book,” and Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

¹¹When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.

¹²Then he commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, the court secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah:

¹³“Go and inquire of the LORD for me, the people, and all Judah about the words in this book that has been found. For great is the LORD’s wrath that is kindled against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this book in order to do everything written about us.”

¹⁴So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah, wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second District. They spoke with her.

¹⁵She said to them, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Say to the man who sent you to me,

¹⁶‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, fulfilling all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read,

¹⁷because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods in order to anger me with all the work of their hands. My wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’

¹⁸Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD: ‘This is what the LORD God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard,

¹⁹because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I myself have heard’ — this is the LORD’s declaration.

²⁰‘Therefore, I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place.’” Then they reported to the king.

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

²Then the king went to the LORD’s temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets — all the people from the youngest to the oldest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the LORD’s temple.

³Next, the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant in the LORD’s presence to follow the LORD and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul in order to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to the covenant.

⁴Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiah and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the LORD’s sanctuary all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars in the sky. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

⁵Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and all the stars in the sky.

⁶He brought out the Asherah pole from the LORD’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley, beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

⁷He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the LORD’s temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries for Asherah.

⁸Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the city gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).

⁹The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

¹⁰He defiled Topheth, which is in Ben Himmon Valley, so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.

¹¹He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They had been at the entrance of the LORD’s temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech, the eunuch. He also burned the chariots of the sun.

¹²The king tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had made on the roof of Ahaz’s upper chamber. He also tore down the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the LORD’s temple. Then he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

¹³The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abhorrent idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

¹⁴He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.

¹⁵He even tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place that had been made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

¹⁶As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who proclaimed these things.

¹⁷Then he said, “What is this monument I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel.”

¹⁸So he said, “Let him rest. Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

¹⁹Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to anger the LORD. Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel.

²⁰He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of those high places, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

²¹The king commanded all the people, “Observe the Passover of the LORD your God as written in the book of the covenant.”

²²No such Passover had ever been observed from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.

²³But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the LORD’s Passover was observed in Jerusalem.

²⁴In addition, Josiah eradicated the mediums, the spiritists, household idols, images, and all the abhorrent things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the LORD’s temple.

²⁵Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.

²⁶In spite of all that, the LORD did not turn from the fury of his intense burning anger, which burned against Judah because of all the affronts with which Manasseh had angered him.

²⁷For the LORD had said, “I will also remove Judah from my presence just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”

²⁸The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

²⁹During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him.

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

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

³²He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight just as his ancestors had done.

³³Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold.

³⁴Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.

³⁵So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh’s command he taxed the land to give it. He exacted the silver and the gold from the common people, each according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

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

³⁷He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight just as his ancestors had done.

¹During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, and then he turned and rebelled against him.

²The LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD he had spoken through his servants the prophets.

³Indeed, this happened to Judah at the LORD’s command to remove them from his presence. It was because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all he had done,

⁴and also because of all the innocent blood he had shed. He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.

⁵The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

⁶Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

⁷Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, for the king of Babylon took everything that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.

⁹He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight just as his father had done.

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

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

¹²King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials, surrendered to the king of Babylon. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

¹³He also carried off from there all the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king’s palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that King Solomon of Israel had made for the LORD’s sanctuary, just as the LORD had predicted.

¹⁴He deported all Jerusalem and all the commanders and all the best soldiers  — ten thousand captives including all the craftsmen and metalsmiths. Except for the poorest people of the land, no one remained.

¹⁵Nebuchadnezzar deported Jehoiachin to Babylon. He took the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹⁶The king of Babylon brought captive into Babylon all seven thousand of the best soldiers and one thousand craftsmen and metalsmiths — all strong and fit for war.

¹⁷And 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 eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

¹⁹Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰Because of the LORD’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

¹In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around.

²The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

³By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.

⁴Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. As the king made his way along the route to the Arabah,

⁵the Chaldean army pursued him and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered.

⁶The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.

⁷They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Finally, the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.

⁸On the seventh day of the fifth month — which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon — Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

⁹He burned the LORD’s temple, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses.

¹⁰The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

¹¹Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.

¹²But the captain of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.

¹³Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars of the LORD’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze basin, which were in the LORD’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁴They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the priests’ service.

¹⁵The captain of the guards took away the firepans and sprinkling basins — whatever was gold or silver.

¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one basin, and the water carts that Solomon had made for the LORD’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.

¹⁷One pillar was twenty-seven feet tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.

¹⁸The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers.

¹⁹From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; five trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people who were found within the city.

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

²¹The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.

²²King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over the rest of the people he left in the land of Judah.

²³When all the commanders of the armies — they and their men — heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The commanders included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite — they and their men.

²⁴Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”

²⁵In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah, and he died. Also, they killed the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, and the commanders of the army, left and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

²⁸He spoke kindly to him and set his throne over the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

²⁹So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.

³⁰As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, for the rest of his life.

¹Adam, Seth, Enosh,

²Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

³Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,

⁴Noah, Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

⁵Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

⁶Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁷Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

⁸Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁹Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. Raama’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

¹⁰Cush fathered Nimrod, who was the first to become a great warrior on earth.

¹¹Mizraim fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh,

¹²Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor.

¹³Canaan fathered Sidon as his firstborn and Heth,

¹⁴as well as the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,

¹⁵Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,

¹⁶Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites.

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

¹⁸Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.

¹⁹Two sons were born to Eber. One of them was named Peleg because the earth was divided during his lifetime, and the name of his brother was Joktan.

²⁰Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

²¹Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

²²Ebal, Abimael, Sheba,

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

²⁴Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah,

²⁵Eber, Peleg, Reu,

²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah,

²⁷and Abram (that is, Abraham).

²⁸Abraham’s sons: Isaac and Ishmael.

²⁹These are their family records: Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

³⁰Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,

³¹Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were Ishmael’s sons.

³²The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

³³Midian’s sons: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s descendants.

³⁴Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac’s sons: Esau and Israel.

³⁵Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

³⁶Eliphaz’s sons: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, and Kenaz; and by Timna, Amalek.

³⁷Reuel’s sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

³⁸Seir’s sons: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

³⁹Lotan’s sons: Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan’s sister.

⁴⁰Shobal’s sons: Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah.

⁴¹Anah’s son: Dishon. Dishon’s sons: Hamran, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

⁴²Ezer’s sons: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Jaakan. Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran.

⁴³These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor. Bela’s town was named Dinhabah.

⁴⁴When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.

⁴⁵When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

⁴⁶When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the territory of Moab, reigned in his place. Hadad’s town was named Avith.

⁴⁷When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.

⁴⁸When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates River reigned in his place.

⁴⁹When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

⁵⁰When Baal-hanan died, Hadad reigned in his place. Hadad’s city was named Pai, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab.

⁵¹Then Hadad died. Edom’s chiefs: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

⁵²Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

⁵³Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

⁵⁴Magdiel, and Iram. These were Edom’s chiefs.

¹These were Israel’s sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

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

³Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite woman. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the LORD’s sight, so he put him to death.

⁴Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar bore Perez and Zerah to him. Judah had five sons in all.

⁵Perez’s sons: Hezron and Hamul.

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

⁷Carmi’s son: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel when he was unfaithful by taking the things set apart for destruction.

⁸Ethan’s son: Azariah.

⁹Hezron’s sons, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.

¹⁰Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, a leader of Judah’s descendants.

¹¹Nahshon fathered Salma, and Salma fathered Boaz.

¹²Boaz fathered Obed, and Obed fathered Jesse.

¹³Jesse fathered Eliab, his firstborn; Abinadab was born second, Shimea third,

¹⁴Nethanel fourth, Raddai fifth,

¹⁵Ozem sixth, and David seventh.

¹⁶Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

¹⁷Amasa’s mother was Abigail, and his father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

¹⁸Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. These were Azubah’s sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

¹⁹When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, and she bore Hur to him.

²⁰Hur fathered Uri, and Uri fathered Bezalel.

²¹After this, Hezron slept with the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead. Hezron had married her when he was sixty years old, and she bore Segub to him.

²²Segub fathered Jair, who possessed twenty-three towns in the land of Gilead.

²³But Geshur and Aram captured Jair’s Villages along with Kenath and its surrounding villages — sixty towns. All these were the descendants of Machir father of Gilead.

²⁴After Hezron’s death in Caleb-ephrathah, his wife Abijah bore Ashhur to him. He was the father of Tekoa.

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

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

²⁷The sons of Ram, Jerahmeel’s firstborn: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.

²⁸Onam’s sons: Shammai and Jada. Shammai’s sons: Nadab and Abishur.

²⁹Abishur’s wife was named Abihail, who bore Ahban and Molid to him.

³⁰Nadab’s sons: Seled and Appaim. Seled died without children.

³¹Appaim’s son: Ishi. Ishi’s son: Sheshan. Sheshan’s descendant: Ahlai.

³²The sons of Jada, brother of Shammai: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died without children.

³³Jonathan’s sons: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.

³⁴Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but he did have an Egyptian servant whose name was Jarha.

³⁵Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, and she bore Attai to him.

³⁶Attai fathered Nathan, and Nathan fathered Zabad.

³⁷Zabad fathered Ephlal, and Ephlal fathered Obed.

³⁸Obed fathered Jehu, and Jehu fathered Azariah.

³⁹Azariah fathered Helez, and Helez fathered Elasah.

⁴⁰Elasah fathered Sismai, and Sismai fathered Shallum.

⁴¹Shallum fathered Jekamiah, and Jekamiah fathered Elishama.

⁴²The sons of Caleb brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha, his firstborn, fathered Ziph, and Mareshah, his second son, fathered Hebron.

⁴³Hebron’s sons: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

⁴⁴Shema fathered Raham, who fathered Jorkeam, and Rekem fathered Shammai.

⁴⁵Shammai’s son was Maon, and Maon fathered Beth-zur.

⁴⁶Caleb’s concubine Ephah was the mother of Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran fathered Gazez.

⁴⁷Jahdai’s sons: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.

⁴⁸Caleb’s concubine Maacah was the mother of Sheber and Tirhanah.

⁴⁹She was also the mother of Shaaph, Madmannah’s father, and of Sheva, the father of Machbenah and Gibea. Caleb’s daughter was Achsah.

⁵⁰These were Caleb’s descendants. The sons of Hur, Ephrathah’s firstborn: Shobal fathered Kiriath-jearim;

⁵¹Salma fathered Bethlehem, and Hareph fathered Beth-gader.

⁵²These were the descendants of Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim: Haroeh, half of the Manahathites,

⁵³and the families of Kiriath-jearim — the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. The Zorathites and Eshtaolites descended from these.

⁵⁴Salma’s descendants: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites,

⁵⁵and the families of scribes who lived in Jabez — the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of Rechab’s family.

¹These were David’s sons who were born to him in Hebron: Amnon was the firstborn, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; Daniel was born second, by Abigail of Carmel;

²Absalom son of Maacah, daughter of King Talmai of Geshur, was third; Adonijah son of Haggith was fourth;

³Shephatiah, by Abital, was fifth; and Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah, was sixth.

⁴Six sons were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years.

⁵These sons were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. These four were born to him by Bath-shua daughter of Ammiel.

⁶David’s other sons: Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet,

⁷Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

⁸Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet — nine sons.

⁹These were all David’s sons, with their sister Tamar, in addition to the sons by his concubines.

¹⁰Solomon’s son was Rehoboam; his son was Abijah, his son Asa, his son Jehoshaphat,

¹¹his son Jehoram, his son Ahaziah, his son Joash,

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

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

¹⁴his son Amon, and his son Josiah.

¹⁵Josiah’s sons: Johanan was the firstborn, Jehoiakim second, Zedekiah third, and Shallum fourth.

¹⁶Jehoiakim’s sons: his sons Jeconiah and Zedekiah.

¹⁷The sons of Jeconiah the captive: his sons Shealtiel,

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

¹⁹Pedaiah’s sons: Zerubbabel and Shimei. Zerubbabel’s sons: Meshullam and Hananiah, with their sister Shelomith;

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

²¹Hananiah’s descendants: Pelatiah, Jeshaiah, and the sons of Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, and Shecaniah.

²²The son of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. Shemaiah’s sons: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat — six.

²³Neariah’s sons: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam — three.

²⁴Elioenai’s sons: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani — seven.

¹Judah’s sons: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

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

³These were Etam’s sons: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash, and their sister was named Hazzelelponi.

⁴Penuel fathered Gedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, Ephrathah’s firstborn and the father of Bethlehem:

⁵Ashhur fathered Tekoa and had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

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

⁷Helah’s sons: Zereth, Zohar, and Ethnan.

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

⁹Jabez was more honored than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez and said, “I gave birth to him in pain.”

¹⁰Jabez called out to the God of Israel: “If only you would bless me, extend my border, let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will not experience pain.” And God granted his request.

¹¹Chelub brother of Shuhah fathered Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.

¹²Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Irnahash. These were the men of Recah.

¹³Kenaz’s sons: Othniel and Seraiah. Othniel’s sons: Hathath and Meonothai.

¹⁴Meonothai fathered Ophrah, and Seraiah fathered Joab, the ancestor of those in the Craftsmen’s Valley, for they were craftsmen.

¹⁵The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. Elah’s son: Kenaz.

¹⁶Jehallelel’s sons: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

¹⁷Ezrah’s sons: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. Mered’s wife Bithiah gave birth to Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

¹⁸These were the sons of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah; Mered had married her. His Judean wife gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

¹⁹The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham: the father of Keilah the Garmite and the father of Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

²⁰Shimon’s sons: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. Ishi’s sons: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

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

²²Jokim, the men of Cozeba; and Joash and Saraph, who married Moabites and returned to Lehem. These names are from ancient records.

²³They were the potters and residents of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king.

²⁴Simeon’s sons: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul;

²⁵Shaul’s sons: his son Shallum, his son Mibsam, and his son Mishma.

²⁶Mishma’s sons: his son Hammuel, his son Zaccur, and his son Shimei.

²⁷Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, so their whole family did not become as numerous as the Judeans.

²⁸They lived in Beer-sheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

²⁹Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

³⁰Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

³¹Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until David became king.

³²Their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan — five cities,

³³and all their surrounding villages as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record for themselves.

³⁴Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,

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

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

³⁷and Ziza son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah —

³⁸these mentioned by name were leaders in their families. Their ancestral houses increased greatly.

³⁹They went 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 land was broad, peaceful, and quiet, for some Hamites had lived there previously.

⁴¹These who were recorded by name came in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, attacked the Hamites’ tents and the Meunites who were found there, and set them apart for destruction, as they are today. Then they settled in their place because there was pasture for their flocks.

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

⁴³They struck down the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they still live there today.

¹These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. He was the firstborn, but his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. He is not listed in the genealogy according to birthright.

²Although Judah became strong among his brothers and a ruler came from him, the birthright was given to Joseph.

³The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

⁴Joel’s sons: his son Shemaiah, his son Gog, his son Shimei,

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

⁶and his son Beerah. Beerah was a leader of the Reubenites, and King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria took him into exile.

⁷His relatives by their families as they are recorded in their family records: Jeiel the chief, Zechariah,

⁸and Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel. They settled in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.

⁹They also settled in the east as far as the edge of the desert that extends to the Euphrates River, because their herds had increased in the land of Gilead.

¹⁰During Saul’s reign they waged war against the Hagrites, who were defeated by their power. And they lived in their tents throughout the region east of Gilead.

¹¹The sons of Gad lived next to them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:

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

¹³Their relatives according to their ancestral houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber — seven.

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

¹⁵Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was head of their ancestral family.

¹⁶They lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its surrounding villages, and throughout the pasturelands of Sharon.

¹⁷All of them were registered in the genealogies during the reigns of Judah’s King Jotham and Israel’s King Jeroboam.

¹⁸The descendants of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 warriors who could serve in the army — men who carried shield and sword, drew the bow, and were trained for war.

¹⁹They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.

²⁰They received help against these enemies because they cried out to God in battle, and the Hagrites and all their allies were handed over to them. He was receptive to their prayer because they trusted in him.

²¹They captured the Hagrites’ livestock — fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand donkeys — as well as one hundred thousand people.

²²Many of the Hagrites were killed because it was God’s battle. And they lived there in the Hagrites’ place until the exile.

²³The descendants of half the tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon (that is, Senir or Mount Hermon); they were numerous.

²⁴These were the heads of their ancestral families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were valiant warriors, famous men, and heads of their ancestral houses.

²⁵But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors. They prostituted themselves with the gods of the nations God had destroyed before them.

²⁶So the God of Israel roused the spirit of King Pul (that is, Tiglath-pileser ) of Assyria, and he took the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and Gozan’s river, where they are until today.

¹Levi’s sons: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

²Kohath’s sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

³Amram’s children: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

⁴Eleazar fathered Phinehas; Phinehas fathered Abishua;

⁵Abishua fathered Bukki; Bukki fathered Uzzi;

⁶Uzzi fathered Zerahiah; Zerahiah fathered Meraioth;

⁷Meraioth fathered Amariah; Amariah fathered Ahitub;

⁸Ahitub fathered Zadok; Zadok fathered Ahimaaz;

⁹Ahimaaz fathered Azariah; Azariah fathered Johanan;

¹⁰Johanan fathered Azariah, who served as priest in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem;

¹¹Azariah fathered Amariah; Amariah fathered Ahitub;

¹²Ahitub fathered Zadok; Zadok fathered Shallum;

¹³Shallum fathered Hilkiah; Hilkiah fathered Azariah;

¹⁴Azariah fathered Seraiah; and Seraiah fathered Jehozadak.

¹⁵Jehozadak went into exile when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁶Levi’s sons: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

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

¹⁸Kohath’s sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

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

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

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

²²Kohath’s sons: his son Amminadab, his son Korah, his son Assir,

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

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

²⁵Elkanah’s sons: Amasai and Ahimoth,

²⁶his son Elkanah, his son Zophai, his son Nahath,

²⁷his son Eliab, his son Jeroham, and his son Elkanah.

²⁸Samuel’s sons: his firstborn Joel, and his second son Abijah.

²⁹Merari’s sons: Mahli, his son Libni, his son Shimei, his son Uzzah,

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

³¹These are the men David put in charge of the music in the LORD’s temple after the ark came to rest there.

³²They ministered with song in front of the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, until Solomon built the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem, and they performed their task according to the regulations given to them.

³³These are the men who served with their sons. From the Kohathites: Heman the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel,

³⁴son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah,

³⁵son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai,

³⁶son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah,

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

³⁸son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel.

³⁹Heman’s relative was Asaph, who stood at his right hand: Asaph son of Berechiah, son of Shimea,

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

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

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

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

⁴⁴On the left, their relatives were Merari’s sons: Ethan son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,

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

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

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

⁴⁸Their relatives, the Levites, were assigned to all the service of the tabernacle, God’s temple.

⁴⁹But Aaron and his sons did all the work of the most holy place. They presented the offerings on the altar of burnt offerings and on the altar of incense to make atonement for Israel according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

⁵⁰These are Aaron’s sons: his son Eleazar, his son Phinehas, his son Abishua,

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

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

⁵³his son Zadok, and his son Ahimaaz.

⁵⁴These were the places assigned to Aaron’s descendants from the Kohathite family for their settlements in their territory, because the first lot was for them.

⁵⁵They were given Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands,

⁵⁶but the fields and settlements around the city were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh.

⁵⁷Aaron’s descendants were given: Hebron (a city of refuge), Libnah and its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa and its pasturelands,

⁵⁸Hilen and its pasturelands, Debir and its pasturelands,

⁵⁹Ashan and its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh and its pasturelands.

⁶⁰From the tribe of Benjamin they were given Geba and its pasturelands, Alemeth and its pasturelands, and Anathoth and its pasturelands. They had thirteen towns in all among their families.

⁶¹To the rest of the Kohathites, ten towns from half the tribe of Manasseh were assigned by lot.

⁶²The Gershomites were assigned thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan according to their families.

⁶³The Merarites were assigned by lot twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun according to their families.

⁶⁴So the Israelites gave these towns and their pasturelands to the Levites.

⁶⁵They assigned by lot the towns named above from the tribes of the descendants of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁶⁶Some of the families of the Kohathites were given towns from the tribe of Ephraim for their territory:

⁶⁷Shechem (a city of refuge) with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer and its pasturelands,

⁶⁸Jokmeam and its pasturelands, Beth-horon and its pasturelands,

⁶⁹Aijalon and its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon and its pasturelands.

⁷⁰From half the tribe of Manasseh, Aner and its pasturelands, and Bileam and its pasturelands were given to the rest of the families of the Kohathites.

⁷¹The Gershomites received: Golan in Bashan and its pasturelands, and Ashtaroth and its pasturelands from the families of half the tribe of Manasseh.

⁷²From the tribe of Issachar they received Kedesh and its pasturelands, Daberath and its pasturelands,

⁷³Ramoth and its pasturelands, and Anem and its pasturelands.

⁷⁴From the tribe of Asher they received Mashal and its pasturelands, Abdon and its pasturelands,

⁷⁵Hukok and its pasturelands, and Rehob and its pasturelands.

⁷⁶From the tribe of Naphtali they received Kedesh in Galilee and its pasturelands, Hammon and its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim and its pasturelands.

⁷⁷The rest of the Merarites received: From the tribe of Zebulun they received Rimmono and its pasturelands and Tabor and its pasturelands.

⁷⁸From the tribe of Reuben across the Jordan at Jericho, to the east of the Jordan, they received Bezer in the desert and its pasturelands, Jahzah and its pasturelands,

⁷⁹Kedemoth and its pasturelands, and Mephaath and its pasturelands.

⁸⁰From the tribe of Gad they received Ramoth in Gilead and its pasturelands, Mahanaim and its pasturelands,

⁸¹Heshbon and its pasturelands, and Jazer and its pasturelands.