1

2 Kings 23

Josiah’s Reforms

⁴And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. ⁶And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. ⁷And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. ⁸And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. ⁹ However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. ¹⁰And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. ¹¹And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹²And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. ¹³And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

¹⁵Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. ¹⁶And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. ¹⁷Then he said, "What is that monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel." ¹⁸And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. ²⁰And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

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

Josiah Restores the Passover

²⁴Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. ²⁵ Before 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 might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there."

Josiah’s Death in Battle

2 Chronicles 35

Josiah Keeps the Passover

⁷Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. ⁸And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. ⁹Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

¹⁰When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. ¹¹ And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests threw the blood that they received from them while the Levites flayed the sacrifices. ¹²And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. ¹³ And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. ¹⁴And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. ¹⁷And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. ¹⁸ No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

Nahum 1

¹ An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

God’s Wrath Against Nineveh

⁶ Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
⁷ The LORD is good,
  a stronghold in the day of trouble;
 he knows those who take refuge in him.
⁸But with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹What do you plot against the LORD?
  He will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰For they are like entangled thorns,
like drunkards as they drink;
  they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
¹¹From you came one
  who plotted evil against the LORD,
a worthless counselor.

¹²Thus says the LORD,"Though they are at full strength and many,
  they will be cut down and pass away.
 Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
¹³And now I will break his yoke from off you
and will burst your bonds apart."

¹⁴The LORD has given commandment about you:
  "No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from the house of your gods I will cut off
the carved image and the metal image.
 I will make your grave, for you are vile."

¹⁵ Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
 Keep your feasts, O Judah;
  fulfill your vows,
 for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.

Nahum 2

The Destruction of Nineveh

²For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel,
for plunderers have plundered them
and ruined their branches.

³The shield of his mighty men is red;
  his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
The chariots come with flashing metal
on the day he musters them;
the cypress spears are brandished.
⁴ The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares;
they gleam like torches;
they dart like lightning.
⁵He remembers his officers;
  they stumble as they go,
they hasten to the wall;
the siege tower is set up.
⁶ The river gates are opened;
the palace melts away;
⁷its mistress is stripped; she is carried off,
her slave girls lamenting,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
⁸ Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.
"Halt! Halt!" they cry,
but none turns back.
⁹Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of the treasure
or of the wealth of all precious things.

¹⁰ Desolate! Desolation and ruin!
  Hearts melt and knees tremble;
 anguish is in all loins;
  all faces grow pale!
¹¹Where is the lions’ den,
the feeding place of the young lions,
where the lion and lioness went,
where his cubs were, with none to disturb?
¹² The lion tore enough for his cubs
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.

¹³ Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn you chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Nahum 3

Woe to Nineveh

⁵ Behold, I am against you,
declares the LORD of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at your nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.
⁷And all who look at you will shrink from you and say,Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?
  Where shall I seek comforters for you?

⁸ Are you better than Thebes
that sat by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
⁹ Cush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
  Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

¹⁰ Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
 her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men lots were cast,
  and all her great men were bound in chains.
¹¹ You also will be drunken;
you will go into hiding;
 you will seek a refuge from the enemy. ¹²All your fortresses are like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
¹³Behold, your troops
  are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴ Draw water for the siege;
  strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick mold!
¹⁵There will the fire devour you;
the sword will cut you off.
It will devour you like the locust.
Multiply yourselves like the locust;
multiply like the grasshopper!
¹⁶You increased your merchants
more than the stars of the heavens.
  The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷Your princes are like grasshoppers,
  your scribes like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.

¹⁸Your shepherds are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
  your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with none to gather them.
¹⁹There is no easing your hurt;
  your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
  clap their hands over you.
For upon whom has not come
your unceasing evil?