1 And they reported to the king what she had said. And he sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
2 And the king ascended to the temple of the Lord. And with him were all the men of Judah and all who were living in Jerusalem: the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from the small to the great. And in the hearing of everyone, he read all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord.
3 And the king stood upon the step. And he struck a covenant before the Lord, so that they would walk after the Lord, and keep his precepts and testimonies and ceremonies, with all their heart and with all their soul, and so that they would carry out the words of this covenant, which had been written in that book. And the people agreed to the covenant.
4 And the king instructed Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, so that they would cast out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels which had been made for Baal, and for the sacred grove, and for the entire army of heaven. And he burned them outside of Jerusalem, in the steep valley of Kidron. And he carried their dust into Bethel.
5 And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to sacrifice in the high places throughout the cities of Judah, and all around Jerusalem, along with those who were burning incense to Baal, and to the Sun, and to the Moon, and to the twelve signs, and to the entire army of heaven.
6 And he caused the sacred grove to be carried away from the house of the Lord, outside of Jerusalem, to the steep valley of Kidron. And he burned it there, and reduced it to dust. And he cast the dust over the graves of the common people.
7 Also, he destroyed the small places of the effeminate, which were in the house of the Lord, for which the women were weaving something like little houses in the sacred grove.
8 And he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah. And he defiled the high places, where the priests were sacrificing, from Geba as far as Beersheba. And he tore down the altars of the gates at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the leader of the city, which was to the left of the gate of the city.
9 Yet truly, the priests of the high places did not ascend to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem. For they would only eat from the unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers.
10 Also, he defiled Topheth, which is in the steep valley of the son of Hinnom, so that no one would consecrate his son or his daughter, through fire, to Molech.
11 Also, he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the Sun, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, beside the hallway of Nathan-melech, the eunuch, who was in Pharurim. And he burned the chariots of the Sun with fire.
12 Also, the altars which were upon the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king destroyed. And he hurried from there, and he scattered their ashes into the torrent Kidron.
13 Also, the high places which were in Jerusalem, to the right side of the Mount of Offense, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built to Ashtoreth, the idol of the Sidonians, and to Chemosh, the offense of Moab, and to Milcom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.
14 And he crushed the statues, and he cut down the sacred groves. And he filled their places with the bones of the dead.
15 Then too, the altar which was in Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made: both that altar and the high place he tore down, and burned, and reduced to dust. And then he also set fire to the sacred grove.
16 And in that place Josiah, turning, saw the sepulchers which were on the mount. And he sent and took the bones from the sepulchers. And he burned them upon the altar, and he defiled it in accord with the word of the Lord, which was spoken by the man of God, who had predicted these events.
17 And he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the citizens of that city responded to him: “It is the sepulcher of the man of God, who came from Judah, and who predicted these events, which you have carried out concerning the altar of Bethel.”
18 And he said: “Permit him. Let no one move his bones.” And his bones have remained untouched, with the bones of the prophet who had arrived from Samaria.
19 Then too, all the shines of the high places, which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord, Josiah took away. And he acted toward them according to all the works that he had done in Bethel.
20 And all the priests of the high places, who were in that place, he killed upon the altars. And he burned the bones of the men upon them. And he returned to Jerusalem.
21 And he instructed all the people, saying: “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, according to what has been written in the book of this covenant.”
22 Now no similar Passover was kept, from the days of the judges, who judged Israel, and from all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah,
23 as this Passover, which was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in the eighteenth year of king Josiah.
24 Then too, Josiah took away those who divined by spirits, and the soothsayers, and the images of the idols, and the defilements, and the abominations, which had been in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, so that he might establish the words of the law, which were written in the book, which Hilkiah, the priest, found in the temple of the Lord.
25 There was no king before him similar to him, who returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, in accord with the entire law of Moses. And after him, there rose up no one similar to him.
26 Yet truly, the Lord did not turn away from the wrath of his great fury, his fury which was enraged against Judah because of the provocations by which Manasseh had provoked him.
27 And so the Lord said: “And now I will remove Judah from my face, just as I removed Israel. And I will cast aside this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the house, about which I said: My name shall be there.”
28 Now the rest of the words of Josiah, and all that he did, have these not been written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?
29 During his days, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, ascended against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates. And king Josiah went out to meet him. And when he had seen him, he was killed at Megiddo.
30 And his servants carried him dead from Megiddo. And they took him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah. And they anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
32 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
33 And Pharaoh Neco bound him at Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem. And he imposed a penalty on the land: one hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold.
34 And Pharaoh Neco appointed Eliakim, the son of Josiah, as king in place of Josiah his father. And he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz away, and he brought him into Egypt, and there he died.
35 Now Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh, when he had taxed the land, according to each one who would contribute by the command of Pharaoh. And he exacted both silver and gold from the people of the land, from each one according to his ability, so that he would give to Pharaoh Neco.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.
37 And he did evil before the Lord, in accord with all that his fathers had done.
1 During his days, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ascended, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. And again he rebelled against him.
2 And the Lord sent to him the robbers of the Chaldeans, and the robbers of Syria, and the robbers of Moab, and the robbers of the sons of Ammon. And he sent them into Judah, so that they might destroy it, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he had spoken through his servants, the prophets.
3 Then this occurred, by the word of the Lord against Judah, that he took him away from before himself because of all the sins of Manasseh which he did,
4 and because of the innocent blood which he shed, and because he filled Jerusalem with the slaughter of the innocent. And for this reason, the Lord was not willing to be appeased.
5 But the rest of the words of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, have these not been written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah? And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers.
6 And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his place.
7 And the king of Egypt no longer continued to go out from his own land. For the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt as far as the river Euphrates.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he had begun to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.
9 And he did evil before the Lord, in accord with all that his father had done.
10 At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ascended against Jerusalem. And the city was encircled with fortifications.
11 And Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, went to the city, with his servants, so that he might fight against it.
12 And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his leaders, and his eunuchs. And the king of Babylon received him, in the eighth year of his reign.
13 And he took from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the house of the king. And he cut up all the gold vessels which Solomon, the king of Israel, had made for the temple of the Lord, in accord with the word of the Lord.
14 And he carried away all of Jerusalem, and all the leaders, and all the strong men of the army, ten thousand, into captivity, with every artisan and craftsman. And no one was left behind, except the poor among the people of the land.
15 Also, he carried away Jehoiachin into Babylon, and the mother of the king, and the wives of the king, and his eunuchs. And he led into captivity the judges of the land, from Jerusalem to Babylon,
16 and all the robust men, seven thousand, and the artisans and craftsman, one thousand: all who were strong men and fit for war. And the king of Babylon led them away as captives, into Babylon.
17 And he appointed Mattaniah, his uncle, in his place. And he imposed the name Zedekiah upon him.
18 Zedekiah held twenty-one years of life when he had begun to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
19 And he did evil before the Lord, in accord with all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Judah, until he cast them away from his face. And so Zedekiah withdrew from the king of Babylon.
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1 And he turned me back to the gate of the house. And behold, waters went out, from under the threshold of the house, toward the east. For the face of the house looked toward the east. But the waters descended on the right side of the temple, toward the south of the altar.
2 And he led me out, along the way of the north gate, and he turned me back toward the way outside the exterior gate, the way which looked toward the east. And behold, the waters overflowed on the right side.
3 Then the man who held the rope in his hand departed toward the east, and he measured one thousand cubits. And he led me forward, through the water, up to the ankles.
4 And again he measured one thousand, and he led me forward, through the water, up to the knees.
5 And he measured one thousand, and he led me forward, through the water, up to the waist. And he measured one thousand, into a torrent, through which I was not able to pass. For the waters had risen to become a profound torrent, which was not able to be crossed.
6 And he said to me: “Son of man, certainly you have seen.” And he led me out, and he turned me back to the bank of the torrent.
7 And when I had turned myself around, behold, on the bank of the torrent, there were very many trees on both sides.
8 And he said to me: “These waters, which go forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and which descend to the plains of the desert, will enter the sea, and will go out, and the waters will be healed.
9 And every living soul that moves, wherever the torrent arrives, will live. And there will be more than enough fish, after these waters have arrived there, and they will be healed. And all things will live, where the torrent arrives.
10 And fishermen will stand over these waters. There will be the drying of nets, from Engedi even to Eneglaim. There will be very many kinds of fish within it: a very great multitude, like the fish of the great sea.
11 But on its shore and in the marshes, they will not be healed. For these will be made into salt pits.
12 And above the torrent, on its banks on both sides, every kind of fruit tree will rise up. Their foliage will not fall away, and their fruit will not fail. Every single month they will bring forth first-fruits. For its waters will go forth from the sanctuary. And its fruits will be for food, and its leaves will be for medicine.”
13 Thus says the Lord God: “This is the border, by which you shall possess the land, in accord with the twelve tribes of Israel. For Joseph shall have a double portion.
14 And you shall possess it, each one in equal manner as his brother. I lifted up my hand over it, so that I might give it to your fathers. And this land shall fall to you as a possession.
15 Now this is the border of the land toward the northern region, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, arriving at Zedad:
16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the confines of Hamath, the house of Ticon, which is beside the border of Hauran,
17 and the border will be from the sea, even to the entrance of Enon, at the border of Damascus, and from the north to the north, at the border of Hamath, on the northern side.
18 Moreover, the eastern region will be from the midst of Hauran, and from the midst of Damascus, and from the midst of Gilead, and from the midst of the land of Israel, to the Jordan, marking the boundary to the eastern sea. For so shall you measure the eastern region.
19 Now the southern region, toward the meridian, will be from Tamar, even to the Waters of Contradiction at Kadesh, and from the Torrent, even to the great sea. And this is the southern region, toward the meridian.
20 And the region toward the sea will have its confines from the great sea continuing directly until one arrives at Hamath. This is the region of the sea.
21 And you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.
22 And you shall distribute it by lot as an inheritance, for yourselves and for the new arrival who will be added to you, who will conceive sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the indigenous among the sons of Israel. They shall divide the possession with you, in the midst of the tribes of Israel.
23 And in whatever tribe the new arrival will be, there you shall give a possession to him, says the Lord God.”
14 Thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted:
15 Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face:
16 Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:
17 And in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted.
18 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.
19 For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.
20 Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.
19 And I said: ‘Lord, they know that I am beating and enclosing in prison, throughout every synagogue, those who have believed in you.
20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was poured out, I stood nearby and was consenting, and I watched over the garments of those who put him to death.’
21 And he said to me, ‘Go forth. For I am sending you to far away nations.’ “
22 Now they were listening to him, until this word, and then they lifted up their voice, saying: “Take this kind away from the earth! For it is not fitting for him to live!”
23 And while they were shouting, and tossing aside their garments, and casting dust into the air,
24 the tribune ordered him to be brought into the fortress, and to be scourged and tortured, in order to discover the reason that they were crying out in this way against him.
25 And when they had tied him with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing near him, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and has not been condemned?”
26 Upon hearing this, the centurion went to the tribune and reported it to him, saying: “What do you intend to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”
27 And the tribune, approaching, said to him: “Tell me. Are you a Roman?” So he said, “Yes.”
28 And the tribune responded, “I obtained this citizenship at great cost.” And Paul said, “But I was born to it.”
29 Therefore, those who were going to torture him, immediately withdrew from him. The tribune was similarly afraid, after he realized that he was a Roman citizen, for he had bound him.
30 But on the next day, wanting to discover more diligently what the reason was that he was accused by the Jews, he released him, and he ordered the priests to convene, with the entire council. And, producing Paul, he stationed him among them.
