Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. ⁴And he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord said: 'In Jerusalem will I put My name.' ⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practised soothsaying, and used enchantments, and appointed them that divined by a ghost or a familiar spirit: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him. ⁷And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son: 'In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever; ⁸neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.' ⁹But they hearkened not; and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

      ¹⁰And the Lord spoke by His servants the prophets, saying: ¹¹'Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, that were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols; ¹²therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. ¹³And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴And I will cast off the remnant of Mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; ¹⁵because they have done that which is evil in My sight, and have provoked Me, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.'

      ¹⁶Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁷Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

      ¹⁹Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father. ²¹And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them. ²²And he forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord. ²³And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. ²⁴But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. ²⁵Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁶And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

      22Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

      ³And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying. ⁴'Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people; ⁵and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the Lord; and let them give it to the workmen that are in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house; ⁶unto the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons; and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.'—⁷Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.

      ⁸And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe: 'I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought back word unto the king, and said: 'Thy servants have poured out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the Lord.' ¹⁰And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying: 'Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.' And Shaphan read it before the king. ¹¹And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the Law, that he rent his clothes. ¹²And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying: ¹³'Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.'

      ¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe—now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter—and they spoke with her. ¹⁵And she said unto them: 'Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me: ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read; ¹⁷because they have forsaken Me, and have offered unto other gods, that they might provoke Me with all the work of their hands; therefore My wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. ¹⁸But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, ¹⁹because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become an astonishment and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. ²⁰Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.' And they brought back word unto the king.

      23And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. ²And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. ³And the king stood on the platform, 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 confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people stood to the covenant.

      ⁴And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el. ⁵And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to offer in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that offered unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. ⁶And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the common people. ⁷And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove coverings