Ch 23-25 edits/corrections

12-2KI.usfm

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 \v 1 Then the king summoned all the elders of Jerusalem and of the other places in Judah.
-\v 2 They went together to the temple, along with the priests and the prophets, and many other people, from the most important people to the least important people. And while they listened, the king read to them all of the laws that Moses had written. He read from the scroll that had been found in the temple.
+\v 2 They went together to the temple, along with the priests and the prophets and many other people, from the most important people to the least important people. And while they listened, the king read to them all of the laws that Moses had written. He read from the scroll that had been found in the temple.
 
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-\v 3 Then the king stood next to the pillar where the kings stood when they made important announcements, and, while Yahweh was listening, he repeated his promise to sincerely obey with his inner being the covenant. And all the people also promised to obey the covenant.
+\v 3 Then the king stood next to the pillar where the kings stood when they made important announcements, and, while Yahweh was listening, he repeated his promise to sincerely obey the covenant with his inner being. And all the people also promised to obey the covenant.
 
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-\v 4 Then the king gave a command to Hilkiah, the high priest, to all the other priests who assisted him, and to the men who guarded the entrance to the temple. He told them to bring out from the temple all the items that people had been using to worship Baal, the goddess Asherah, and the stars. After they carried them out, they burned all those things outside the city in the Kidron Valley. Then they took all the ashes to Bethel.
-\v 5 There were many pagan priests whom the previous kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the altars scattered throughout the region of Judah and to worship on the high places that were built on the hills. They had been offering sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, the planets, and the stars. The king stopped them from doing those things.
+\v 4 Then the king gave a command to Hilkiah the high priest, to all the other priests who assisted him, and to the men who guarded the entrance to the temple. He told them to bring out from the temple all the items that people had been using to worship Baal, the goddess Asherah, and the stars. After they carried them out, they burned all those things outside the city in the Kidron Valley. Then they took all the ashes to Bethel.
+\v 5 There were many pagan priests whom the previous kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the altars scattered throughout the region of Judah and to worship on the high places that were built on the hills. They had been offering sacrifices to Baal, the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. The king stopped them from doing those things.
 
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-\v 6 He commanded that the statue of the goddess Asherah be taken out of the temple. Then they took it outside Jerusalem, down to the Kidron Valley, and burned it. Then they pounded the ashes to powder and scattered that over the graves of ordinary people.
+\v 6 He commanded that the statue of the goddess Asherah be taken out of the temple. Then they took it outside Jerusalem down to the Kidron Valley and burned it. Then they pounded the ashes to powder and scattered that over the graves of ordinary people.
 \v 7 He also took everything out of the rooms in the temple where the temple male prostitutes lived. That was where women wove robes that were used to worship the goddess Asherah.
 
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-\v 10 Josiah also desecrated the place named Topheth, in the Ben Hinnom Valley, in order that no one could offer his son or daughter there to be completely burned on the altar as a sacrifice to the god Molech.
-\v 11 He also removed the horses that the previous kings of Judah had dedicated to worshiping the sun, and he burned the chariots that were used in that worship. Those horses and chariots were kept in the courtyard outside the temple, near the entrance to the temple, and near the room where one of Josiah's officials lived, whose name was Nathan-Melek.
+\v 10 Josiah also desecrated the place named Topheth, in the Ben Hinnom Valley, so that no one could offer his son or daughter there to be completely burned on the altar as a sacrifice to the god Molech.
+\v 11 He also removed the horses that the previous kings of Judah had dedicated to worshiping the sun, and he burned the chariots that were used in that worship. Those horses and chariots were kept in the courtyard outside the temple, near the entrance to the temple, and near the room where one of Josiah's officials lived whose name was Nathan-Melek.
 
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 \v 12 Josiah also commanded his servants to tear down the altars that the previous kings of Judah had built on the palace roof, above the room where King Ahaz had stayed. They also tore down the altars that had been built by King Manasseh in the two courtyards outside the temple. He commanded that they be smashed to pieces and thrown down into the Kidron Valley.
-\v 13 He also commanded that the altars that King Solomon had built east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives—the so-called Mount of Corruption—be desecrated. Solomon had built them for the worship of the disgusting idols—the statue of the goddess Ashtoreth worshiped by the people in the city of Sidon, Chemosh the god of the Moab people, and Molech the god of the Ammon people.
-\v 14 They also broke into pieces the stone pillars that the Israelite people worshiped, and cut down the poles that honored the goddess Asherah, and they scattered the ground there with human bones to desecrate it.
+\v 13 He also commanded that the altars that King Solomon had built east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives—the so-called Mount of Corruption—be desecrated. Solomon had built them for the worship of the disgusting idols—the statue of the goddess Ashtoreth worshiped by the people in the city of Sidon, Chemosh the god of the Moabite people, and Molech the god of the Ammonite people.
+\v 14 They also broke into pieces the stone pillars that the Israelite people worshiped and cut down the poles that honored the goddess Asherah, and they scattered the ground there with human bones to desecrate it.
 
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-\v 15 Furthermore, he commanded them to tear down the place of worship that was near the city of Bethel, the very same place of worship that had been built by King Jeroboam (whose father was Nebat, the same man who made Israel to sin against Yahweh). Josiah led the people of Israel to tear down that altar that was on the high hill, and they also burned the wooden pole used in the worship of the idol that had the name "Asherah."
+\v 15 Furthermore, he commanded them to tear down the place of worship that was near the city of Bethel, the very same place of worship that had been built by King Jeroboam (whose father was Nebat), the same man who made Israel to sin against Yahweh. Josiah led the people of Israel to tear down that altar that was on the high hill, and they also burned the wooden pole used in the worship of the idol that had the name "Asherah."
 \v 16 Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs on the hill. He commanded his men to take the bones out of those tombs and burn them on the altar. By doing that, he desecrated the altar. These events were predicted many years before when Yahweh gave his word to Israel by his prophet.
 
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 \v 17 Josiah asked, "Whose tomb is that?" The people of Bethel replied, "It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted that these things that you have just now done to this altar would happen."
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 \v 18 Josiah replied, "Allow his tomb to remain as it is. Do not remove the prophet's bones from the tomb."
-\p So the people did not remove those bones, or the bones of the other prophet, the one who had come from Samaria.
+\p So the people did not remove those bones or the bones of the other prophet, the one who had come from Samaria.
 
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-\v 19 In every city in Israel, at Josiah's command, they tore down the houses build on hills to worship idols. The ones that had been built by the previous kings of Israel, which had caused Yahweh to become very angry. He did to all those places of idols worship the same thing that he had done to the altars at Bethel.
-\v 20 He ordered that all the priests who offered sacrifices on the places built on the hills where they worshiped idols, and they were to be killed on those altars. Then he burned human bones on every one of those altars to desecrate them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
+\v 19 In every city in Israel, at Josiah's command, they tore down the houses built on hills to worship idols—the ones that had been built by the previous kings of Israel and that had caused Yahweh to become very angry. He did to all those places of idols worship the same thing that he had done to the altars at Bethel.
+\v 20 He ordered that all the priests who offered sacrifices on the places built on the hills where they worshiped idols were to be killed on those altars. Then he burned human bones on every one of those altars to desecrate them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
 
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 \v 21 Then the king commanded all the people to celebrate the Passover festival to honor Yahweh their God, which was written in the law of Moses that they should do every year.
-\v 22 During all the years that leaders ruled Israel and during all the years that kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, they had not celebrated that festival.
+\v 22 During all the years that leaders ruled Israel and during all the years that kings ruled Israel and Judah, they had not celebrated that festival.
 \v 23 But now, after Josiah had been ruling for almost eighteen years, to honor Yahweh they celebrated the Passover festival in Jerusalem.
 
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-\v 24 Furthermore, Josiah removed from Jerusalem and other places in Judah all the people who practiced sorcery and those who asked the spirits of dead people to tell them what they should do. He also removed from Jerusalem and from the other places in Judah all the household idols and all the other idols and abominable things. He did those things in order to obey what had been written in the scroll that Hilkiah had found in the temple.
+\v 24 Furthermore, Josiah removed from Jerusalem and other places in Judah all the people who practiced sorcery and those who asked the spirits of dead people to tell them what they should do. He also removed from Jerusalem and from the other places in Judah all the household idols and all the other idols and abominable things. He did those things to obey what had been written in the scroll that Hilkiah had found in the temple.
 \v 25 Josiah was devoted to Yahweh with all that he felt and thought and with all his strength. There had never been in Judah or Israel a king like him. He obeyed all the laws of Moses. And there has never since then been a king like Josiah.
 
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-\v 28 If you want to know more about all the other things that Josiah did, they are written in the book of the events of the Kings of Judah.
+\v 28 All the other things that Josiah did are written in the book of the events of the kings of Judah.
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-\v 29 While he was the king of Judah, King Necho of Egypt led his army north to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah tried to stop the army of Egypt at the city of Megiddo, but he was killed in a battle there.
-\v 30 His officials placed his corpse in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem, where it was buried in his own tomb.
-\p Then the people of Judah poured olive oil on Josiah's son Joahaz, to appoint him to be the new king.
+\v 29 While Josiah was the king of Judah, King Necho of Egypt led his army north to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah tried to stop the army of Egypt at the city of Megiddo, but he was killed in a battle there.
+\v 30 His officials placed his corpse in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem where it was buried in his own tomb.
+\p Then the people of Judah poured olive oil on Josiah's son Jehoahaz to appoint him to be the new king.
 
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-\v 31 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became the king of Judah, but he ruled from Jerusalem for only three months. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from the city of Libnah.
-\v 32 Joahaz did many things that Yahweh said were evil, just like many of his ancestors had done.
-\v 33 King Necho's army captured him and tied him up with chains and took him as a prisoner to the city of Riblah in the district of Hamath, to prevent him from continuing to rule in Jerusalem. Necho forced the people of Judah to pay to him about 3,300 kilograms of silver and thirty-three kilograms of gold.
+\v 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became the king of Judah, but he ruled from Jerusalem for only three months. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from the city of Libnah.
+\v 32 Jehoahaz did many things that Yahweh said were evil, just as many of his ancestors had done.
+\v 33 King Necho's army captured him and tied him up with chains and took him as a prisoner to the city of Riblah in the district of Hamath to prevent him from continuing to rule in Jerusalem. Necho forced the people of Judah to pay to him about 3,300 kilograms of silver and thirty-three kilograms of gold.
 
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 \v 34 King Necho appointed another son of Josiah, Eliakim, to be the new king, and he changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Joahaz to Egypt, and later Joahaz died there in Egypt.
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-\v 35 King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people of Judah. He collected more from the rich people and less from the poor people. He collected silver and gold from them, in order to pay to the king of Egypt what he commanded them to give.
+\v 35 King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people of Judah. He collected more from the rich people and less from the poor people. He collected silver and gold from them to pay to the king of Egypt what he commanded them to give.
 
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@@ -1713,7 +1713,7 @@
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 \v 1 While Jehoiakim was ruling Judah, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah. They defeated the Judean army, and as a result, Jehoiakim was required to pay much tribute to King Nebuchadnezzar. But after three years, Jehoiakim rebelled.
-\v 2 Then Yahweh sent raiders from Babylonia and Aram, and from the Moab and Ammon peoples, to attack the people of Judah and kill them, just as Yahweh had told his prophets to warn the people would happen.
+\v 2 Then Yahweh sent raiders from Babylonia and Aram and from the Moabite and Ammonite peoples to attack the people of Judah and kill them, just as Yahweh had told his prophets to warn the people would happen.
 
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 \v 3 These things happened to the people of Judah just as Yahweh had commanded. He decided to destroy the people of Judah because of the many sins that King Manasseh had committed.
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-\v 5 The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king, and all the things that he did, are written in the book of the events of the Kings of Judah.
+\v 5 The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king and all the things that he did are written in the book of the events of the kings of Judah.
 \v 6 When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin became the king.
 
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 \v 8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became the king of Judah. His mother's name was Nehushta. She was the daughter of a man from Jerusalem named Elnathan. Jehoiachin ruled in Jerusalem for only three months.
-\v 9 Jehoiachin did many things that Yahweh said were evil, all the evil things that his father had done.
+\v 9 Jehoiachin did many things that Yahweh said were evil—all the evil things that his father had done.
 
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 \v 10 While Jehoiachin was king, some officers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came along with the whole Babylonian army to Jerusalem, and they surrounded the city.
 \v 11 While they were doing that, Nebuchadnezzar himself came to the city.
-\v 12 Then King Jehoiachin, his mother, his advisors, important officers, palace officials all surrendered to the Babylonian army.
+\v 12 Then King Jehoiachin and his mother, advisors, important officers, and palace officials all surrendered to the Babylonian army.
 \p When Nebuchadnezzar had been king for eight years, he captured Jehoiachin and took him to Babylon.
 
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 \v 13 Just as Yahweh had said would happen, Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers took to Babylon all the valuable things from Yahweh's temple and from the king's palace. They cut up all the gold items that King Solomon had put in the temple.
-\v 14 They took from Jerusalem to Babylon ten thousand people, including the important officials and the best soldiers and the people who made and repaired things that were made of metal. Only the very poor people were left in Judah.
+\v 14 They took ten thousand people from Jerusalem to Babylon, including the important officials, the best soldiers, and the people who made and repaired things that were made of metal. Only the very poor people were left in Judah.
 
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-\v 15 Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers seized King Jehoiachin and took him to Babylon, along with his wives and officials, his mother, and all the important people.
+\v 15 Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers seized King Jehoiachin and took him to Babylon, along with his mother, his wives, his officials, and all the important people.
 \v 16 They also took to Babylon all seven thousand soldiers and one thousand men who knew how to make and repair things that are made from metal. All of these people whom they took were able to fight in battle.
 \v 17 Then the king of Babylon appointed Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, to be the king of Judah, and he changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah.
 
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-\v 1 After Zedekiah had been ruling for nine years, on the tenth day of the tenth month of that year, King Nebuchadnezzar arrived with his whole army. They surrounded Jerusalem. Against the walls of the city, they built ramps made of earth, so that they could climb up and attack the city.
+\v 1 After Zedekiah had been ruling for nine years, on the tenth day of the tenth month of that year, King Nebuchadnezzar arrived with his whole army. They surrounded Jerusalem. Against the walls of the city, they built ramps made of earth so that they could climb up and attack the city.
 \v 2 It took them two years to do that.
 \v 3 After Zedekiah had been ruling for eleven years, by the ninth day of the fourth month of that year, the famine had become very bad. All the people's food was gone.
 
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 \v 4 Then the Babylonian soldiers broke through part of the city wall, and that enabled them to enter the city. All the soldiers of Judah tried to escape. But the Babylonian soldiers surrounded the city, so the king and the soldiers of Judah waited until it was nighttime. Then they fled through the gate that was between the two walls near the king's park. They ran across the fields and started to go down to the plain along the Jordan River.
-\v 5 But the Babylonian soldiers chased after them. They caught the king when he was by himself in the plains of Jericho. He was by himself because all his soldiers had abandoned him.
+\v 5 But the Babylonian soldiers chased after them. They caught the king when he was by himself in the plains of Jericho. He was by himself because all of his soldiers had abandoned him.
 
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 \v 6 The Babylonian soldiers took King Zedekiah to the city of Riblah in Babylonia. There the king of Babylon decided what they would do to punish him.
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-\v 16 The bronze from the two pillars, the bronze stands with wheels, and the huge tank that was called "The Sea," were all so very heavy that they could not be weighed. These things had been made for the temple when Solomon was the king of Israel.
+\v 16 The bronze from the two pillars, the bronze stands with wheels, and the huge tank that was called "The Sea" were all so very heavy that they could not be weighed. These things had been made for the temple when Solomon was the king of Israel.
 \v 17 Each of the pillars was eight and one-third meters high. The bronze capital of each pillar was one and one-third meters high. They were each decorated all around with something that looked like a net made of bronze chains connecting bronze pomegranates.
 
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-\v 18 Nebuzaradan took with him to Babylon Seraiah, the high priest; Zephaniah, his assistant; and the three men who guarded the entrance to the temple.
+\v 18 Nebuzaradan took with him to Babylon Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah his assistant, and the three men who guarded the entrance to the temple.
 \v 19 From the people who were still left in Jerusalem, he took one officer from the Judean army, five of the king's advisors, the chief secretary of the army commander who was in charge of recruiting men to join the army, and sixty other important Judean men.
 
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 \v 22 Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed a man named Gedaliah to be the governor of the people who he still allowed to live in Judah. Gedaliah was a son of Ahikam and a grandson of Shaphan.
-\v 23 When all the army commanders in Judah and their soldiers found out that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to be the governor, they met with him at the city of Mizpah. These commanders were Ishmael son of Nethaniah; Johanan son of Kareah; Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, from the city of Netophah; and Jaazaniah, from the region of Maacah.
+\v 23 When all the army commanders in Judah and their soldiers found out that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to be the governor, they met with him at the city of Mizpah. These commanders were Ishmael son of Nethaniah; Johanan son of Kareah; Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, from the city of Netophah; and Jaazaniah, from the region of Maakah.
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 \v 24 Gedaliah solemnly promised them that the officials from Babylon were not planning to harm them. He said, "You may live in this land without being afraid; you should obey the king of Babylon. If you do, everything will go well for you."
 
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 \v 25 But in the seventh month of that year, Ishmael, whose grandfather Elishama was in the family descended from King David, went to Mizpah along with ten other men. They assassinated Gedaliah and all the men with him. There were also men from Judah and men from Babylon whom they assassinated.
-\v 26 Then many of the people from Judah, important people and unimportant ones, and the army commanders were very afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them, so they fled to Egypt.
+\v 26 Then many of the people from Judah—important people and unimportant ones—and the army commanders were very afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them, so they fled to Egypt.
 
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