2 Kings 23 – NIV & CCB

New International Version

2 Kings 23:1-37

Josiah Renews the Covenant

1Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

4The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. 6He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. 7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

8Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court23:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

12He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 14Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

15Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. 16Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

17The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”

The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

18“Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger. 20Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

21The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. 23But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

24Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

26Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. 27So the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’23:27 1 Kings 8:29

28As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

29While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. 30Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz King of Judah

31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done. 33Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents23:33 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons of silver and a talent23:33 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms of gold. 34Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died. 35Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.

Jehoiakim King of Judah

36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.

Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)

列王纪下 23:1-37

约西亚的改革

1于是,王召集犹大耶路撒冷的所有长老, 2与祭司、先知、犹大人、耶路撒冷的居民等全体民众,不论贵贱,一同上到耶和华的殿。王把在殿中发现的约书念给他们听。 3王站在柱旁,在耶和华面前立约,要全心全意地跟随耶和华,遵从祂的一切诫命、法度和律例,履行约书上的规定。民众都答应守约。

4王吩咐大祭司希勒迦及其副手和殿门守卫清除耶和华殿里用来祭拜巴力亚舍拉及天上万象的一切器具,将其搬到耶路撒冷城外汲沦溪旁的田野烧掉,又把灰烬带到伯特利5从前,犹大各王任命祭司在犹大各城和耶路撒冷周围的丘坛烧香。现在,约西亚除掉那些祭司,又除掉向巴力、日、月、星辰及天上万象烧香的祭司。 6他将亚舍拉神像从耶和华的殿里搬到耶路撒冷城外汲沦溪旁烧掉,磨成灰撒在平民的坟墓上。 7他又拆毁耶和华的殿内男庙妓的房屋,就是妇女为亚舍拉编织帐幔的地方。 8他召集犹大各城中的祭司,污渎从迦巴别示巴的各丘坛,那些祭司曾在那里烧香。他拆毁耶路撒冷城门左边、约书亚总督门前的丘坛。 9但在丘坛烧香的祭司不能在耶路撒冷耶和华的祭坛那里事奉,只可以和其他祭司一起吃无酵饼。 10他污渎欣嫩子谷中的陀斐特,使人们不能焚烧自己的儿女献给摩洛11他从耶和华的殿门口除掉犹大各王献给太阳神的马匹,这些马匹在太监拿单·米勒房子旁边的院子里。他烧掉了那些献给太阳神的战车。 12他推倒犹大各王在亚哈斯楼顶上建造的祭坛,摧毁玛拿西在耶和华殿的两个院子里所筑的祭坛,把它们打碎,把灰丢进汲沦溪。 13他污渎耶路撒冷东面、败坏山南面的丘坛。这些丘坛都是以色列所罗门西顿人可憎的神明亚斯她录摩押人可憎的神明基抹亚扪人可憎的神明米勒公建造的。 14他砸碎神柱,砍倒亚舍拉神像,用死人骨头填满那些地方。

15他拆掉伯特利高岗上的祭坛,即尼八的儿子耶罗波安诱使以色列人犯罪时建造的祭坛,把祭坛烧毁,捣碎成灰,又焚烧亚舍拉神像。 16约西亚转身看见山上的坟墓,就派人取出墓中的尸骨,放在那祭坛上焚烧,污渎了那祭坛,应验了耶和华借祂的仆人所说的预言。 17约西亚问:“我看到的那墓碑是谁的?”那城里的人告诉他:“是上帝仆人的,他曾从犹大来预言你对伯特利祭坛所做的这些事。” 18他说:“不要动他,不要动他的尸骨。”于是,他们没有动那位先知和撒玛利亚来的先知的尸骨。 19他拆毁以色列各王从前建在撒玛利亚各城高岗上、惹耶和华发怒的丘坛,就像他在伯特利所做的一样。 20他在祭坛上杀死那些丘坛的祭司,又在坛上焚烧死人骨头。之后,他返回耶路撒冷

约西亚守逾越节

21约西亚王吩咐民众:“你们应当依照约书的记载庆祝逾越节,以尊崇你们的上帝耶和华。” 22-23约西亚执政第十八年,他们在耶路撒冷庆祝逾越节,以尊崇耶和华。自士师治理以色列起,至以色列犹大列王统治期间,都没有这样庆祝过逾越节。

24为了遵守祭司希勒迦在耶和华殿里找到的律法书上的话,约西亚彻底清除了耶路撒冷犹大境内的灵媒、巫师、家庭神像及其他一切可憎之物。 25约西亚全心、全意、全力归向耶和华,遵行摩西的一切律法,在犹大列王中空前绝后。

26然而,玛拿西所行的一切惹怒耶和华,耶和华对犹大仍盛怒未息。 27耶和华说:“我要像驱逐以色列人一样将犹大人从我面前赶走。我要撇弃我所拣选的耶路撒冷和我名常在的殿。”

28约西亚其他的事及作为都记在犹大的列王史上。 29约西亚执政期间,埃及尼哥前往幼发拉底河援助亚述王,约西亚出兵迎战尼哥,在米吉多被杀。 30他的臣仆用车把他的尸体从米吉多运回耶路撒冷,安葬在他的墓穴里。民众膏立他儿子约哈斯做王。

约哈斯做犹大王

31约哈斯二十三岁登基,在耶路撒冷执政三个月。他母亲叫哈慕她,是立拿耶利米的女儿。 32约哈斯像他祖先一样做耶和华视为恶的事。 33埃及尼哥约哈斯囚禁在哈马利比拉,不准他在耶路撒冷做王,又罚犹大国三点四吨银子和三十四公斤金子。

约雅敬做犹大王

34埃及尼哥约西亚的另一个儿子以利亚敬为王,给他改名为约雅敬约哈斯尼哥带到埃及,并死在那里。 35为了缴纳法老索要的金银,约雅敬向全国征税,按照民众家产的多少征收金银。 36约雅敬二十五岁登基,在耶路撒冷执政十一年。他母亲叫西布妲,是鲁玛毗大雅的女儿。 37他像他祖先一样做耶和华视为恶的事。