LESSON CIX. 2 CHRONICLES.

CHAP. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII.

XIII. HEZEKIAH the son of Ahaz reigned in the stead of his father: he began to reign in the third year of Hoshea king of Israel.

2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.

26 And Hezekiah kept a great passover. So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon, the son of David king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem.

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27 Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.

1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession, into their own cities.

20 And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

After these things Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against Jerusalem, and defied the Lord God of Israel; but Hezekiah prayed to the Lord.

21 And the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons slew him there with the sword.

22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hands of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.

23 And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.

And when Hezekiah had reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem, he was gathered to his fathers.

XIV. MANASSEH, the son of Hezekiah, reigned in the room of his father. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

4 Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire, in the valley of the son of Hinnom also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord. to provoke him to anger. And he set a carved image in the house of God.

9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen,

whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people but they would not hearken.

11 Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And prayed unto God: and God was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.

15 And he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

16 And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

17 Nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high places yet unto the Lord their God only. Fifty and five years reigned Manasseh in Jerusalem; and he was gathered to his fathers, and they buried him in his house.

XV. AMON, the son of Manasseh, reigned in the stead of his father.

21 Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;

23 And humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more. And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.

LESSON CX.

XVI. JOSIAH, the son of Amon, was made king in his stead; he was eight years old when he began to reign.

2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, walked in the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And he repaired the house of the Lord.

And he destroyed all the high places round about Jerusalem, of them that worshipped Baal, the sun, and the moon, and the planets, and all the host of heaven.

3 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashteroth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcolm the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones

of men.

15 Moreover, the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

25 And like unto Josiah there was no king before him, that 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: neither after him arose there any like him.

26 Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was

kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

27 And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be' there.

And Josiah went up against Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt; and was slain at Meggido. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre.

XVII. JEHOAHAZ, the son of Josiah, was anointed king in the stead of his father. And he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his forefathers had done.

33 And when he had reigned three months, Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem: and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

34 And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

XVIII. JEHOIAKIM reigned in Jerusalem, but he paid tribute for his kingdom to Pharaoh-nechoh. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.