Study Desk

The people of Judah have left me and have burned incense to other gods. They have made me angry by all the evil things they have made. So I will punish them in my anger, which will not be put out.'

So I will let you die and be buried in peace. You won't see all the trouble I will bring to this place and the people living here.'" So they took her message back to the king.

Then Josiah made all the people in Jerusalem and Benjamin promise to accept the agreement. So the people of Jerusalem obeyed the agreement of God, the God of their ancestors.

Then they gave the animals for the burnt offerings to the different family groups so the burnt offerings could be offered to the Lord as was written in the book of Moses. They also did this with the cattle.

So everything was done that day for the worship of the Lord , as King Josiah commanded. The Passover was celebrated, and the burnt offerings were offered on the Lord 's altar.

But Neco sent messengers to Josiah, saying, "King Josiah, there should not be war between us. I did not come to fight you, but my enemies. God told me to hurry, and he is on my side. So don't fight God, or he will destroy you."

But Josiah did not go away. He wore different clothes so no one would know who he was. Refusing to listen to what Neco said at God's command, Josiah went to fight on the plain of Megiddo.

So they took him out of his chariot and put him in another chariot and carried him to Jerusalem. There he died and was buried in the graves where his ancestors were buried. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem were very sad because he was dead.

But they made fun of God's prophets and hated God's messages. They refused to listen to the prophets until, finally, the Lord became so angry with his people that he could not be stopped.

So God brought the king of Babylon to attack them. The king killed the young men even when they were in the Temple. He had no mercy on the young men or women, the old men or those who were sick. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.

And so what the Lord had told Israel through the prophet Jeremiah happened: The country was an empty wasteland for seventy years to make up for the years of Sabbath rest that the people had not kept.

In the first year Cyrus was king of Persia, the Lord had Cyrus send an announcement to his whole kingdom. This happened so the Lord 's message spoken by Jeremiah would come true. He wrote:

In the first year Cyrus was king of Persia, the Lord caused Cyrus to send an announcement to his whole kingdom and to put it in writing. This happened so the Lord 's message spoken by Jeremiah would come true. He wrote:

These people searched for their family records but could not find them. So they could not be priests, because they were thought to be unclean.

Then they gave money to the bricklayers and carpenters. They also gave food, wine, and oil to the cities of Sidon and Tyre so they would float cedar logs from Lebanon to the seacoast town of Joppa. Cyrus king of Persia had given permission for this.

The people made so much noise it could be heard far away, and no one could tell the difference between the joyful shouting and the sad crying.

Since we must be loyal to the government, we don't want to see the king dishonored. So we are writing to let the king know.

Now, give an order for those men to stop work. The city of Jerusalem will not be rebuilt until I say so.

So the work on the Temple of God in Jerusalem stopped until the second year Darius was king of Persia.

We also asked for their names, and we wrote down the names of their leaders so you would know who they are.