Daily Text and Bible Reading: Wednesday, May 6 [Press play below]

23.1 So the king sent word, and they summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
23.2 After that the king went up to the house of Jehovah with all the men of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets—all the people, from small to great. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of Jehovah.
23.3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before Jehovah, that he would follow Jehovah and keep his commandments, his reminders, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul by carrying out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people agreed to the covenant.
23.4 The king then ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second rank, and the doorkeepers to bring out from the temple of Jehovah all the utensils made for Baal, for the sacred pole, and for all the army of the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem on the terraces of Kidron, and he took their ashes to Bethel.
23.5 So he put out of business the foreign-god priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to make sacrificial smoke on the high places in the cities of Judah and the surroundings of Jerusalem, as well as those making sacrificial smoke to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations of the zodiac, and to all the army of the heavens.
23.6 He brought the sacred pole out from the house of Jehovah to the outskirts of Jerusalem, to the Kidron Valley, and he burned it in the Kidron Valley and ground it to dust and scattered its dust on the graves of the common people.
23.7 He also tore down the houses of the male temple prostitutes, which were in the house of Jehovah and where the women were weaving tent shrines for the sacred pole.
23.8 Then he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and he made unfit for worship the high places where the priests had been making sacrificial smoke, from Geba to Beer-sheba. He also tore down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the chief of the city, which were on the left as one entered the city gate.
23.9 The priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened bread along with their brothers.
23.10 He also made unfit for worship Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
23.11 And he prohibited the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from entering the house of Jehovah by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, which was in the porticoes; and he burned the chariots of the sun in the fire.
23.12 The king also tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper chamber, as well as the altars that Manasseh had set up in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah. He crushed them and scattered their dust in the Kidron Valley.
23.13 And the king made unfit for worship the high places in front of Jerusalem that were to the south of the Mount of Ruination, which Solomon the king of Israel had built to Ashtoreth the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians; and to Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab; and to Milcom the detestable god of the Ammonites.
23.14 He broke the sacred pillars to pieces and cut down the sacred poles and filled their places with human bones.
23.15 He also tore down the altar in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made that caused Israel to sin. After tearing down that altar and the high place, he burned the high place, ground it to dust, and burned the sacred pole.
23.16 When Josiah turned and saw the graves on the mountain, he had the bones taken from the graves and burned them on the altar, making it unfit for worship, according to Jehovah’s word that had been proclaimed by the man of the true God who foretold that these things would happen.
23.17 Then he said: “What is the gravestone over there that I am looking at?” At this the men of the city said to him: “It is the grave of the man of the true God from Judah who foretold these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
23.18 So he said: “Let him rest. Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, as well as the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
23.19 Josiah also removed all the houses of worship on the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had built to offend God, and he did the same thing to them that he had done at Bethel.
23.20 So he sacrificed on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and he burned human bones on them. After that he returned to Jerusalem.
23.21 The king now commanded all the people: “Hold a Passover to Jehovah your God as is written in this book of the covenant.”
23.22 No Passover like this had been held since the days when the judges had judged Israel or in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23.23 But in the 18th year of King Josiah, this Passover to Jehovah was held in Jerusalem.
23.24 Josiah also cleared out the spirit mediums, the fortune-tellers, the teraphim statues, the disgusting idols, and all the disgusting things that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, in order to carry out the words of the Law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Jehovah.
23.25 There was no king like him prior to him, who returned to Jehovah with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses; nor did anyone like him rise up after him.
23.26 Nevertheless, Jehovah did not turn away from his burning anger that blazed against Judah because of all the offensive things that Manasseh had done to offend Him.
23.27 Jehovah said: “I will also remove Judah from my sight, just as I removed Israel; and I will reject this city that I chose, Jerusalem, and the house about which I said, ‘My name will continue there.’”
23.28 As for the rest of the history of Josiah, all that he did, is it not written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Judah?
23.29 In his days Pharaoh Nechoh the king of Egypt came to meet the king of Assyria by the Euphrates River, and King Josiah went out to confront him; but when Nechoh saw him, he put him to death at Megiddo.
23.30 So his servants transported his dead body in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave. Then the people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
23.31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
23.32 He began to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that his forefathers had done.
23.33 Pharaoh Nechoh imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and then imposed on the land a fine of 100 silver talents and a gold talent.
23.34 Furthermore, Pharaoh Nechoh made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, where he eventually died.
23.35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he had to tax the land to give the silver that Pharaoh demanded. He exacted an assessed amount of silver and gold from each of the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Nechoh.
23.36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
23.37 He continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that his forefathers had done.

24.1 In Jehoiakim’s days King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against him, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. However, he turned against him and rebelled.
24.2 Then Jehovah began to send against him marauder bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites. He kept sending them against Judah to destroy it, according to Jehovah’s word that he had spoken through his servants the prophets.
24.3 Surely it was by the order of Jehovah that this happened to Judah, to remove them from his sight because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed,
24.4 and also the innocent blood that he had shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and Jehovah was not willing to forgive.
24.5 As for the rest of the history of Jehoiakim, all that he did, is it not written in the book of the history of the times of the kings of Judah?
24.6 Then Jehoiakim was laid to rest with his forefathers; and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.
24.7 Never again did the king of Egypt venture out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Wadi of Egypt up to the Euphrates River.
24.8 Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
24.9 He continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that his father had done.
24.10 During that time the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.
24.11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his servants were laying siege to it.
24.12 King Jehoiachin of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, along with his mother, his servants, his princes, and his court officials; and the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.
24.13 Then he took out from there all the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s house. He cut into pieces all the gold utensils that Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah. This happened just as Jehovah had foretold.
24.14 He took into exile all Jerusalem, all the princes, all the mighty warriors, and every craftsman and metalworker—he took 10,000 into exile. No one was left behind except the poorest people of the land.
24.15 Thus he took Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon; he also led away the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his court officials, and the foremost men of the land, taking them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
24.16 The king of Babylon also took into exile to Babylon all the warriors, 7,000, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalworkers, all of them mighty men and trained for war.
24.17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
24.18 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
24.19 He continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
24.20 It was because of Jehovah’s anger that these things took place in Jerusalem and in Judah, until he cast them out of his sight. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25.1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem. He camped against it and built a siege wall all around it,
25.2 and the city was under siege until the 11th year of King Zedekiah.
25.3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.
25.4 The city wall was broken through, and all the soldiers fled by night through the gate between the double wall near the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were surrounding the city; and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
25.5 But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and they overtook him in the desert plains of Jericho, and all his troops were scattered from his side.
25.6 Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.
25.7 They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes; then Nebuchadnezzar blinded Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with copper fetters, and brought him to Babylon.
25.8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, that is, in the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief of the guard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
25.9 He burned down the house of Jehovah, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he also burned down the house of every prominent man.
25.10 And the walls surrounding Jerusalem were pulled down by the entire Chaldean army that was with the chief of the guard.
25.11 Nebuzaradan the chief of the guard took into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.
25.12 But the chief of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to serve as vinedressers and as compulsory laborers.
25.13 And the Chaldeans broke into pieces the copper pillars of the house of Jehovah and the carriages and the copper Sea that were in the house of Jehovah, and they carried the copper away to Babylon.
25.14 They also took the cans, the shovels, the extinguishers, the cups, and all the copper utensils used in the temple service.
25.15 The chief of the guard took the fire holders and the bowls that were of genuine gold and silver.
25.16 As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the carriages that Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the copper of all these articles was beyond weighing.
25.17 Each pillar was 18 cubits high, and the capital on it was of copper; and the height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around on the capital were all made of copper. The second pillar with its network was like it.
25.18 The chief of the guard also took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.
25.19 And he took from the city one court official who was the commissioner over the soldiers, five close associates of the king who were found in the city, as well as the secretary of the chief of the army, the one mustering the people of the land, and 60 men of the common people of the land who were yet found in the city.
25.20 Nebuzaradan the chief of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
25.21 The king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah went into exile from its land.
25.22 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over the people whom he had left behind in the land of Judah.
25.23 When all the army chiefs and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they immediately came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, together with their men.
25.24 Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men and said to them: “Do not be afraid of being servants to the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25.25 And in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, who was of the royal line, came with ten other men, and they struck down Gedaliah and he died, along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah.
25.26 After that all the people, from small to great, including the army chiefs, rose up and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
25.27 And in the 37th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 27th day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year he became king, released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison.
25.28 He spoke kindly with him and put his throne higher than the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
25.29 So Jehoiachin took off his prison garments, and he regularly ate before him all the days of his life.
25.30 A regular allowance of food was given him from the king, day after day, all the days of his life.