2Ki 14, 2Ki 23 | ESV | STEP | In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz , king of Israel , Amaziah the son of Joash , king of Judah , began to reign .

1 ^aIn the ^bsecond year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, ^cAmaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. 4 ^dBut the high places were not removed; ^ethe people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 5 And as soon as the royal power was ^ffirmly in his hand, he struck down his servants ^gwho had struck down the king his father. 6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, ^h“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

7 ⁱHe struck down ten thousand Edomites in ^jthe Valley of Salt and took ^kSela by storm, and called it ^lJoktheel, which is its name to this day.

8 ^mThen Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash ^{▼▼ Jehoash is an alternate spelling of Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in 13:9, 12–14; also verses 9, 11–16} the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, ^olet us look one another in the face.” 9 And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, ^p“A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 10 You have indeed ^qstruck down Edom, ^rand your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah ^sfaced one another in battle at ^tBeth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 And Judah was defeated by Israel, ^uand every man fled to his home. 13 And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, ^{▼▼A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters} from ^wthe Ephraim Gate to ^xthe Corner Gate. 14 And he seized ^yall the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

15 ^zNow the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

17 ^aaAmaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 18 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to ^abLachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. 20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22 He built ^acElath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^adwhich he made Israel to sin. 25 ^aeHe restored the border of Israel ^affrom Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of ^agthe Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant ^ahJonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from ^aiGath-hepher. 26 For the Lord ^ajsaw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, ^akfor there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 27 ^alBut the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored ^amDamascus and ^anHamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings 23

Josiah’s Reforms

1 ^aoThen the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And ^aphe read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^aqthat had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood ^arby the pillar and ^asmade a covenant before the Lord, ^atto 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 this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests ^auof the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for ^avBaal, for ^awAsherah, and for all the host of heaven. ^axHe burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And 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 ^ayand all the host of the heavens. 6 And he brought out ^azthe Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, ^baand burned it at the brook Kidron ^bband beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves ^bcof the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of ^bdthe male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, ^bewhere the women wove hangings for ^bfthe Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from ^bgGeba 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 ^bhHowever, 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. 10 And he defiled ^biTopheth, which is ^bjin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^bkthat no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to ^blMolech. ^{▼▼Hebrew might cause his son or daughter to pass through the fire for Molech} 11 And 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. ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain} And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 And the altars ^boon the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars ^bpthat Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces ^{▼▼Hebrew pieces from there} and cast the dust of them ^brinto the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of ^bsthe mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^btAshtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for ^buChemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^bvMilcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 And he broke in pieces the ^bwpillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected ^bxby Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^bywho made Israel to sin, ^bzthat altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, ^{▼▼Septuagint broke in pieces its stones} reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And 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, ^cbaccording to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, ^cc“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted ^{▼▼Hebrew called} these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones ^ceof the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were ^cfin 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. 20 And ^cghe sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, ^chand burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Restores the Passover

21 And the king commanded all the people, ^ci“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^cjas it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 ^ckFor no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover, Josiah put away ^clthe mediums and the necromancers and ^cmthe household gods and ^cnthe idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish ^cothe words of the law that were written in the book ^cpthat Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 ^cqBefore 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.

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

Josiah’s Death in Battle

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29 ^cuIn his days ^cvPharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at ^cwMegiddo, as soon as he saw him. 30 ^cxAnd his servants carried him dead in a chariot from ^cyMegiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. ^czAnd the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz’s Reign and Captivity

31 ^daJehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^dbHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^dcaccording to all that his fathers had done. 33 And ^ddPharaoh Neco put him in bonds at ^deRiblah in the land of ^dfHamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents ^{▼▼A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms} of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And ^dhPharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and ^dichanged his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, ^djand he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim ^dkgave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

36 ^dlJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^dmaccording to all that his fathers had done.