Study Desk

"Now, O LORD our God, please, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know [without any doubt] that You alone, O LORD, are God."

So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and returned home, and lived at Nineveh.

So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow on the steps ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, so that he may count the entire amount of money brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

"Go, inquire of the LORD for my sake and for the sake of the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book which has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD which has been kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to and obeyed the words of this book, so as to act in accordance with everything that is written concerning us."

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (she was living in Jerusalem, in the Second Quarter [the new part of the city]); and they spoke to her.

"Therefore, behold, [King Josiah,] I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be taken to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil (catastrophe) which I will bring on this place."'" So they brought back word to the king.

Josiah also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), so that no man could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire [as a burnt offering] for Molech.

He said, "Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the soothsayers and the teraphim (household gods) and the idols and all the repulsive things that were seen in Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might fulfill the words of the law written in the book which Hilkiah the priest found in the house (temple) of the LORD.

Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed a fine on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers [in death], and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his [palace] officials. So the king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his [own] reign.

So they seized the king (Zedekiah) and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah [on the Orontes River], and sentence was passed on him.

Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile from its land.

So Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant as a wife; she bore him Attai.

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my border [property], and that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil so that it does not hurt me!" And God granted his request.

Meonothai became the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah became the father of Joab the father of Ge-harashim [the Valley of Craftsmen, so named] because they were craftsmen.

these mentioned by name were leaders in their families; and their fathers' houses increased greatly [so they needed more land].

So they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.