The Cave of Treasures 62

H¹🔗ezekiah was twenty-five years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Akhi (Abhi?), the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that which was pleasing before the Lord, for he smashed the altars, and he cut in pieces the serpent of brass which Moses made in the wilderness, because the children of Israel used to worship it, and he abolished heathen practices in Jerusalem.

²🔗 In the fourth year of his reign, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up and carried away captive the rest of the children of Israel, and he sent them into Media, beyond Babel. And in the twentieth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up and took all the cities and towns of Judah, but through the prayer of Hezekiah Jerusalem was saved. because when he became sick unto death he had no son to reign after him.

³🔗 And when he looked with the eyes of his soul and saw that he had no son to reign after him, he was afflicted, and wept and said, “Woe is me! for I must die childless, and that blessing which hath been given [unto us] for six and forty generations hath been cut off by me this day. I have become the destroyer of the kingdom of David, and the succession of the kings of Judah hath been cut off this day.”

⁴🔗 This was [the cause of] the sorrow of Hezekiah. And after he recovered from his sickness he waited fourteen years, and [then] Manasseh was born to him. And Hezekiah died in great content, and left a son to sit upon the throne of David his father. [Manasseh.] Manasseh was twelve years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Habhsibhah (Hephziba).

⁵🔗 He was a man who was more evil and iniquitous than all those who had lived before him; he builded altars to devils, and sacrificed to idols, and he filled Jerusalem. with iniquity and provoked God to wrath. And because Isaiah the prophet rebuked him, he threatened him and sent men who were sons of iniquity, and they sawed Isaiah the prophet in twain with a saw between [two pieces of] wood, from his head downwards to his feet.

⁶🔗 And Isaiah was one hundred and twenty years old when they sawed him in twain, and he had been the prophet of God for ninety years. And Manasseh repented after he had slain Isaiah, and he put sackcloth on his body, and decreed fasting for himself, and he ate bread with tears all the days of his life because he had committed iniquity and had slain the prophet.

⁷🔗 And Manasseh died, and Ammon reigned after him. Ammon was twenty-two years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Mashlémath. And Ammon did evil before the Lord, and he made his sons to pass through fire; he died, and Josiah his son reigned after him.

⁸🔗 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Yadhidha (Jedida), the daughter of Azariah (Adayja?), from Bezkath. And he did what was good before the Lord, and he walked in all the way wherein his father David had walked; and he turned aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.

⁹🔗 And Pharaoh, the “Lame” (i.e. Necho II) killed him, and Jehoahaz his son reigned after him. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamtál, the daughter of Jeremiah from Lebhná. And he did what was evil before the Lord, even as Manasseh had done.

¹⁰🔗 And Pharaoh, the Lame, king of Egypt, took him prisoner in Diblath, in the land of Hamath, whilst he was king in Jerusalem, and he laid tribute on the land, one hundred talents of silver and ten talents of gold. And Pharaoh, the Lame, made Eliakim, the son of Jonah, king instead of Josiah his father, and he made his name to be Jehoiakim.

¹¹🔗 And he carried away Jehoahaz, and he went to Egypt and died there. And Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh; he laid [the payment] of silver and gold on the land according to the word (i.e.command) of Pharaoh’s mouth. Every man, according to what it was right for him [to pay], brought silver and gold from the people of the land, according to the command of the mouth of Pharaoh, the Lame.

¹²🔗 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Zebhidhá, the daughter of Pedáyá, from Ramah.. And he did that which was evil before the Lord, even as his fathers had done. In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, went up against Jerusalem, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years.

¹³🔗 Then he turned and rebelled against him, and the Lord stirred up bands of robbers against him because of his sins. And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned after him. And the king of Egypt did not come forth again out of his country; for the king of Babel captured all the land that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

¹⁴🔗 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Neheshtá, the daughter of Elyathan (Elnathan?), from Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil before the Lord, even as his father had done. At that time Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, went up against Jerusalem, and the king of Babel took him with him in the eighth year of his kingdom.

¹⁵🔗 And he brought out from there all the treasure of the house of the Lord, and the treasure of the king’s house, and he carried off into captivity to Babel all [the people of] Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin, and his mother, and his wives, and his nobles; and the king brought captive to Babel all the men who had made war. And the king of Babel made Methanya, the uncle [of Jehoiachin] king in his stead, and he called his name “Zedekiah.”’