Related OET-RV GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
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The OET Readers’ Version is designed to be read alongside the Literal Version. Expand the matching Literal Version beneath each passage. This is still an early look into the drafted text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.
2Ki 22:3–23:27:
3 In the eighth month of the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyah’s (Josiah’s) reign, he sent the scribe Shafan (the son of Atsalyah the son of Meshulam) to the temple, saying 4 “Go to the high priest Hilkiyah and get him to count the silver that was brought into Yahweh’s temple, which the door-keepers collected from the people. 5 Then have it given to the supervisors of the temple repairs, and then they can pay the workers who are repairing the damage—6 the craftsmen, builders, and masons, as well as buying wood and quarried stones for the repairs.” 7 They won’t need to submit detailed accounts for it because they’re trustworthy people.[ref]
8 During the repairs, the high priest Hilkiyah told the scribe Shafan, “I found a scroll in the temple with Yahweh’s instructions written on it.” So Hilkiyah gave the scroll to Shafan to read. 9 Then Shafan the scribe went to the king with this report, “Your servants handed over the money that had been collected in the temple, and they gave it to the supervisors of the workers doing the repairs.” 10 Then he added, “And the priest Hilkiyah gave me a scroll.” Then he read it out loud to King Yoshiyah.
11 When the king heard the contents of the scroll, he tore his clothes 12 and commanded the priest Hilkiyah, Shafan’s son Ahikam, Mikayah’s son Akbor, the scribe Shafan, and the king’s servant Asayah, 13 “Go and inquire from Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of the people and all Yehudah (Judah), concerning the words of this scroll that was found. Because it sounds like Yahweh must be very angry at us because our predecessors didn’t listen to what’s written on this scroll and didn’t do what was expected of us.”
14 So Hilkiyah the priest and Ahikam, Akbor, Shafan, and Asayah went to the prophetess Huldah (the wife of Shalum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the one in charge of looking after the priests’ uniforms who lived in the newer part of Yerushalem (Jerusalem)), and they spoke to her. 15 She told them that Yisrael’s (Israel’s) god Yahweh had said, “Tell the man who sent you all to me 16 that Yahweh says this: I’m going to bring disaster to this place and its inhabitants, just like it’s written in the scroll that the king read 17 because they abandoned me. They offered sacrifices to other gods in order to make me angry at everything they do, so now my anger will be directed against this place and it’s not stoppable. 18 But to the king of Yehudah who sent you all to seek Yahweh, tell him that Yisrael’s god Yahweh says: The words that you heard from the scroll, 19 because you’re open to learn and because you humbled yourself in front of Yahweh when you heard my promise that this place and its inhabitants would become a horror and a curse, and because you’ve torn your clothes and wept in front of me, then Yahweh said that he’s taken notice of you. 20 Because of that, he’ll allow you to die and be buried peacefully, and you yourself won’t witness the destruction that will come to this place.”
So they relayed those messages back to King Yoshiyah (Josiah).
23 Then King Yoshiyah (Josiah) summoned all the elders of Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and across Yehudah (Judah), 2 and he went to the temple, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalem and from all across Yehudah went with him, along with the priests and prophets, and all the people from the most to the least important. Then he read to them every word on the scroll of the agreement that had been found in Yahweh’s residence. 3 Then the king stood by the pillar and he made a commitment in front of Yahweh to follow Yahweh and to obey his commands and testimonies and statutes with all sincerity, and with every desire to respect the words of that agreement that had been written on that scroll. All the people were also included in that commitment.
4 Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiyah and the other priests, and the temple guards to bring out all the utensils that were made for Ba’al and Asherah and for all the constellations, and he burnt them outside Yerushalem in the Kidron countryside, and carried their ashes to Beyt-El (Bethel). 5 He got rid of the pagan priests that the kings of Yehudah had appointed to burn incense in the hilltop shrines around Yerushalem and across the rest of Yehudah, and the ones who burnt incense to Ba’al, and to the sun and moon and to the planets and constellations. 6 He got the Asherah pole out from Yahweh’s temple and burnt it in the Kidron valley outside Yerushalem, then he pounded the ashes to dust and threw it over people’s graves. 7 He demolished the cubicles of the male temple prostitutes that were inside Yahweh’s temple where the women were weaving Asherah coverings.[fn] 8 He brought all the priests to Yerushalem from the cities of Yehudah, and he desecrated the hilltop shrines where the priests had burnt incense, from Geva to Be’er-Sheva (Beersheba). He demolished the hilltop shrines that Yehoshua (Joshua) (a city official) had built near the city gate (on the left of the gate as you entered the city). 9 However those priests from those hilltop shrines weren’t allowed to serve at the altar in Yerushalem, but they were allowed to eat unleavened bread like the other priests.
10 Yoshiyah (Josiah) also desecrated the Tofet, which was in the Ben-Hinom valley, so that the people couldn’t sacrifice their children to Molek. 11 The horses that the kings of Yehudah had offered to the sun, he prevented from approaching the hall of the official Netan-Melek that was in the courtyards of Yahweh’s temple, and he set fire to the chariots of the sun. 12 Then the king tore down the altars that were on the roof in Ahaz’s upper chamber that the kings of Yehudah made, and the altars that Menasheh (Manasseh) made in the two courtyards of Yahweh’s temple and he threw the rubble into the Kidron valley. 13 The king desecrated the hilltop shrines that faced Yerushalem—they were south of the Mt. of Destruction’ (the Mt. of Olives). King Shelomoh (Solomon) had built shrines for Ashtarot (the disgusting god of the Tsidonim (Sidonians)) and for Kemosh (the disgusting god of Moav (Moab)) and for Molek (the disgusting god of the Amonim). 14 He also smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles, then he desecrated those places by filling them with human bones.
15 He also demolished the altar that was in Beyt-El (Bethel)—the hilltop shrine that Nevat’s son Yarov’am (Jeroboam) had made when he’d caused Yisrael (Israel) to sin. He demolished both that altar and the hilltop shrine, then he burnt the shrine. He crushed everything to dust, and he burnt the Asherah pole. 16 As Yoshiyah turned around, he noticed some graves that were there on the hillside, so he had some bones removed from the graves, and he burnt them on the altar to desecrate it. This fulfilled what Yahweh had said through the man of God who’d proclaimed these things.[ref] 17 Yoshiyah turned again and asked, “Whose tomb is that?”
“It’s the prophet’s tomb,” the people of Beyt-El replied, “The one who came from Yehudah and predicted that what you just did to that altar would happen.” 18 “Don’t disturb it then,” the king ordered. “Don’t let anyone remove his bones.”
So they left his bones alone, along with the bones of the other prophet who came from Shomron (Samaria). 19 So King Yoshiyah removed all the hilltop shrines that the Israeli kings had made in the cities of Shomron, provoking Yahweh’s anger. The king destroyed them just like he’d done to the ones in Beyt-El. 20 He executed all the priests from those hilltop shrines on the altars there, and then he burnt human bones on them to desecrate them. Then he returned to Yerushalem (Jerusalem).
21 Then the king commanded all the people, “Celebrate ‘pass-over’ for your god Yahweh according to what’s written on this scroll with the agreement.” 22 Since the days of the leaders who judged Yisrael (Israel), or in all the days of the kings of Yisrael and Yehudah (Judah), a ‘pass-over’ had never been celebrated like that one 23 in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyah’s (Josiah’s) reign. That ‘pass-over’ celebration in Yerushalem (Jerusalem) was to honour Yahweh.
24 King Yoshiyah (Josiah) also removed the ritual pits and the soothsayers, and the images and idols, and all the abhorrences that were seen in Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and in the Yehudah (Judah) region, in his diligence to obey everything that was written on the scroll that the priest Hilkiyah found in the temple. 25 No other king had been like Yoshiyah who’d led the people back to obeying Yahweh—following Mosheh’s (Moses’) written instructions with all his heart and all his spirit and all his energy. What’s more, there’s never been a king like him since then either.
26 However, Yahweh’s anger against Yehudah hadn’t cooled down after everything that King Menasheh (Manasseh) had done[ref] to make him angry, 27 and Yahweh said, “I will also remove Yehudah out of my sight, just like I removed Yisrael (Israel). I’ll also reject this city of Yerushalem that I chose, as well as the house where I’d said that my name would be established.”
23:7 It’s not exactly clear what these woven objects were, or how or where they were used.
2Ch 34:8–35:19:
8 In his eighteenth year as king, in order to purify the land and the temple, he sent Atsalyah’s son Shafan, Ma’aseyah the city official, and Yo’ahaz’s son Yoah the secretary, to repair his god Yahweh’s residence. 9 They went to Hilkiyah the high priest and handed over the funds that had been donated for God’s house, which had been collected by the Levites as doorkeepers—the money was from the tribes of Menasheh, Efrayim, and other places in the northern kingdom of Yisrael, as well as from Yerushalem’s inhabitants and people across all of Yehudah and Benyamin. 10 The priests then paid the workers who’d been assigned to work in Yahweh’s temple to repair and strengthen it. 11 They also paid the carpenters and builders to buy cut stone and timber for the beams and braces which Yehudah’s kings had allowed to deteriorate, 12 and the workers did their work faithfully. Their supervisors were Yahat and Ovadyah (Obadiah) (Levites descended from Merari), as well as Zekaryah (Zechariah) and Meshulam (descendants of Levi’s son Kohat), and all the Levites who were good on their musical instruments. 13 They also supervised the porters and people working on various other tasks. Some of the Levites were secretaries, officials, and guards.
14 When they were bringing the money out of the temple, Hilkiyah the high priest found a scroll containing Yahweh’s instructions that had been given via Mosheh (Moses). 15 Hilkiyah informed the scribe Shafan that he’d found a Torah scroll in the temple, and he gave him the scroll. 16 Shafan took the scroll with him to the king and reported to him, “Your servants are doing everything they were assigned to do. 17 They’ve taken the cash that was in Yahweh’s residence, and passed it on to the supervisors of the workers.” 18 Then Shafan told the king, “I’ve brought a scroll that the priest Hilkiyah gave me,” and then he started reading it out to the king.
19 When the king heard the words of God’s instructions, he tore his clothes in grief. 20 Then he commanded Hilkiyah, Shafan’s son Ahikam, Mikah’s son Avdon, Shafan himself, and the king’s special advisor Asayah, 21 “Go and ask Yahweh on my behalf, and on behalf of everyone in Yisrael (Israel) and Yehudah (Judah), what he wants us to do with respect to the instructions on the scroll that’s just been found, because it seems that Yahweh will be very angry at us because our ancestors haven’t followed all of Yahweh’s instructions as they’re written on that scroll.”
22 So Hilkiyah and the others went to Yerushalem’s (Jerusalem’s) Second District, to the prophetess Huldah (wife of Shalum, son of Tokahat, son of Hasrah who took care of the temple robes). They passed on the king’s question, 23 and she replied, “Yisrael’s god Yahweh says to tell the king: 24 Yahweh says, ‘Listen, I’m going to bring disaster on this place and its inhabitants, as per all the curses written on that scroll that was read to Yehudah’s king, 25 because they’ve abandoned me and offered incense to other gods. That’s made me angry, and so my rage will be poured out on this place, and it can’t be prevented.’ 26 However, Yehudah’s king sent you all to ask for Yahweh’s direction, so tell him, ‘Yisrael’s god Yahweh says that after hearing the scroll’s words, 27 you were sincere, and you humbled yourself in front of God when you heard his words about this place and its inhabitants. Yes, Yahweh declares you’ve humbled yourself in front of me and torn your clothes, and wept in front of me, and I’ve personally heard you. 28 So listen, I’ll allow you to die and be buried in peace, and so your eyes won’t see the disaster that I’ll send to this place and its inhabitants.’ ”
So they took that response back to the king.
29 Then the king summoned all the elders from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and from across Yehudah, 30 and they all walked up to the temple, with the inhabitants of Yerushalem and all of Yehudah, and the priests and the Levites, and all the people, irrespective of their standing in the community. Then the king read everything out to them that was on the Torah scroll that had been found in the temple. 31 Then the king stood at his normal place and made an agreement with Yahweh: to obey Yahweh and follow his instructions and his regulations and statutes, sincerely and with all his energy—doing what was in the joint understanding that had been written on the scroll. 32 Then he had everyone from Yerushalem and Benyamin take a stand in agreement to it, and so Yerushalem’s inhabitants renewed their agreement with their ancestors’ god. 33 So King Yoshiyah (Josiah) removed all the disgusting idols from all the Israeli regions, and he made everyone in Yisrael (Israel) serve their god Yahweh—during his lifetime they never turned away from Yahweh, their ancestors’ god.
35 Then King Yoshiyah (Josiah) prepared a ‘pass-over’ celebration in Yerushalem (Jerusalem), and they slaughtered the lambs at the end of March. 2 He assigned the priests to the various tasks that needed to be done, and encouraged them to do their work well. 3 He told the Levites (they’d been separated from the other tribes in order to serve Yahweh) who were teaching all of Yisrael (Israel), “Place the sacred box in the house that was built by David’s son, Yisrael’s King Shelomoh (Solomon)—it won’t be a burden any more for your shoulders. Now serve your god Yahweh and his Israeli people, 4 and prepare yourselves in your clan divisions as per the instructions written by Yisrael’s King David and his son Shelomoh.[ref] 5 Then stand in the temple area, grouped by your clans and ready to help the other tribes. 6 Consecrate yourselves and slaughter the ‘pass-over’ lambs for the people as per the instructions given through Mosheh (Moses) by Yahweh.
7 King Yoshiyah provided thirty thousand lambs and young goats from his own flocks for the ‘pass-over’ sacrifices, and three thousand bulls from his own herds. 8 His officials also contributed for the benefit of the people, priests, and Levites. The chief temple officials Hilkiyah, Zekaryah (Zechariah), and Yehiel donated 2,600 lambs and three hundred cattle to the priests. 9 The Levite leaders Konaniyah and his younger brothers Shemayah and Netanel, along with Hashavyah, Yeiel, and Yozavad, together contributed five thousand lambs and three hundred bulls.
10 So everything was prepared as the king had commanded, and the priests stood at their places, and the Levites were there in their various divisions, 11 and they slaughtered the ‘pass-over’ lambs, then the priests sprinkled the blood while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 They set aside the animals to be burnt on the altar, in order to give them to the various family groups to offer to Yahweh, following the instructions Mosheh had written down. They did the same thing with the cattle. 13 They roasted the ‘pass-over’ meal over the fire as per the instructions,[ref] and they boiled the meat of the sacred offerings in pots and kettles and pans, and served the meat immediately to all the people who were there. 14 Afterwards, the Levites prepared the meal for themselves and for the priests (Aharon’s (Aaron’s) descendants), because the priests had been busy sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions right through to the evening. 15 The singers (Asaf’s descendants) were at their posts, as they’d been commanded by King David, Asaf, Heyman, and the king’s prophet Yedutun.[ref] The men guarding the gates didn’t have to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites prepared food for them.
16 So on that day, everything that needed to be done for worshipping Yahweh was done. They celebrated the ‘pass-over’ festival, and they sacrificed burnt offerings as King Yoshiyah (Josiah) had commanded. 17 The Israelis who were there celebrated the ‘pass-over’ that day, then they celebrated the ‘Festival of Flat Bread’ for seven days.[ref] 18 There hadn’t been a ‘pass-over’ celebration done like that in Yisrael (Israel) since the time of the prophet Shmuel (Samuel), and none of Yisrael’s kings had ever done it like Yoshiyah did, along with the priests and Levites and the people from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and all of Yehudah (Judah) and Yisrael. 19 They celebrated that festival in the eighteenth year of Yoshiyah’s reign.
2Ki 23:36–24:7:
36 Yehoyakim was twenty-five when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) for eleven years. (His mother was Pedayah’s daughter Zevidah from Rumah.) 37 He did what Yahweh had said was evil like many of his ancestors had done.
24 During his reign, the Babylonian King Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) attacked, and Yehoyakim ruled under him for three years before rebelling against him. 2 Then Yahweh sent troops of Kasdim (Chaldeans), troops from Aram (Syria), troops from Moav (Moab), and Amoni troops against Yehudah (Judah) at different times to destroy them, just as Yahweh had said through his servants the prophets. 3 Those things troubled Yehudah at Yahweh’s command to remove them out of his sight because of all of King Menasheh’s (Manasseh’s) sins 4 and because he’d killed innocent people—Yahweh wouldn’t forgive him because he’d filled Yerushalem with innocent blood.
5 Everything else that Yehoyakim said and did is written in the book of the events of the kings of Yehudah. 6 Then Yehoyakim died and his son Yehoyakin replaced him as king.
7 The Mitsri (Egyptian) king didn’t continue his attacks on other countries, because the Babylonian king captured land all the way from the Mitsri river as far as the Perat (Euphrates) River—everything that had been controlled by Mitsrayim (Egypt).
2Ch 36:5-8:
5 Yehoyakim was twenty-five when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) for eleven years. He did many things that Yahweh had said were evil.[ref] 6 Bavel’s (Babylon’s) King Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) attacked and captured Yehoyakim and took him to Bavel in bronze chains,[ref] 7 along with some items from Yahweh’s temple that were taken to Bavel and placed in the king’s temple there.
8 The record of all the other things Yehoyakim did while he was king, including the disgusting things he did, was written on the scroll ‘The kings of Yisrael (Israel) and Yehudah’ (Judah), and his son Yehoyakin replaced him as king.
2Ki 24:18–25:21:
18 Tsidkiyah (Zedekiah) was twenty-one when he became king and he reigned from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) for eleven years. (His mother was Yirmiyah’s (Jeremiah’s) daughter Hamutal from Livnah.) 19 He did what Yahweh had said was evil, just like Yehoyakin had done. 20 Because Yahweh was still very angry, he had the people of Yerushalem and all Yehudah (Judah) driven away out of his sight.
25 In the ninth year of Tsidkiyah’s (Zedekiah’s) reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the Babylonian King Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) brought all his army to Yerushalem (Jerusalem). They made their camp outside the city, and then built attack structures all around it 2 and besieged the city for two years. 3 ⇔The people didn’t have enough to eat and the famine became severe. 4 Then the Babylonians began breaking into the city, but the local fighters sneaked out at night through a gate between two walls near the king’s garden and escaped down to the desert plain. 5 However, the Babylonian soldiers chased after the king and they overtook him on the Yeriho (Jericho) plains, and his army scattered. 6 King Tsidkiyah was captured and taken to the Babylonian king at Rivlah, where he was sentenced—7 He was forced to watch as his sons were slaughtered, then his eyes were gouged out and he was taken to Bavel (Babylon) restrained with two bronze chains.
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month of Babylonian King Nevukadnetsar’s (Nebuchadnezzar’s) nineteenth year as king, his servant Nevuzar-Adan, who was his chief bodyguard, went to Yerushalem (Jerusalem). 9 He set fire to Yahweh’s temple and the palace, and all of Yerushalem’s houses, so no important building remained. 10 Then the army under the command of Nevuzar-Adan tore down the walls surrounding Yerushalem. 11 He exiled all the rest of the people from the city, all the surrendered soldiers, and the rest of the population, 12 but he let some of the poorest people remain on the land to look after the vineyards and as farmers.
13 The Babylonians smashed the bronze pillars and the bases and the bronze ‘sea’ from the temple, and took all the bronze to Bavel (Babylon). 14 They also took the pots and shovels, the snuffers and spoons, and all the bronze utensils used in the temple activities. 15 They took the fire-pans and the gold and silver bowls. 16 The bronze from the two pillars, the ‘sea’, and the bases that had been made for the temple by Shelomoh (Solomon) was too heavy to be weighed. 17 Each pillar was over eight metres high, plus a bronze capital on top that was over a metre high. They were decorated with latticework with bronze pomegranates all around.
18 Nevuzar-Adan exiled to Bavel (Babylon) the high priest Serayah, the second priest Tsefanyah (Zephaniah), and the three temple entrance guards. 19 From the city, he took one official who was a military inspector, five of the king’s advisors, and the army commander’s secretary in charge of recruitment, plus sixty other important men. 20 Nevuzar-Adan took them all to the Babylonian king at Rivlah 21 in the Hamat region, but the king had them all executed there.
2Ch 36:11-21:
11 Tsidkiyah (Zedekiah) was twenty-one when he became king, and he reigned from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) for eleven years.[ref] 12 He did many things that Yahweh had said were evil, in fact, he didn’t even humble himself when the prophet Yirmiyah (Jeremiah) brought him a message from Yahweh. 13 ⇔He’d become very stubborn and wouldn’t return to Yisrael’s (Israel’s) god Yahweh, and he also rebelled against King Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar), who’d made him promise in front of God to be loyal.[ref] 14 In addition, all the leaders of the priests and the people of Yehudah (Judah) became more and more unfaithful, doing disgusting things often done in other nations, and then they defiled Yahweh’s residence, which he’d consecrated in Yerushalem.
15 So Yahweh, their ancestors’ god, sent many messages via his prophets, because he felt compassion for his people and his residence, 16 but they mocked God’s messengers and rejected the messages—ridiculing his prophets until Yahweh became so angry that he couldn’t be stopped. 17 So Yahweh sent the Chaldean king against them, and the Kasdim (Chaldeans) ran Yehudah’s young men through with the sword, even in the temple, and they didn’t spare any of the young men or women, or even those who were older or elderly—God allowed Nevukadnetsar to thoroughly defeat them.[ref] 18 Then he took everything valuable, big or small, from God’s temple, as well as from the king and his officials. 19 They set God’s temple on fire,[ref] and tore down some of the wall surrounding Yerushalem, burnt all its palaces, and destroyed everything valuable. 20 Anyone else who was still alive was taken to Bavel (Babylon), where they became servants to the king and his children until the time when the Persians came to power. 21 That fulfilled God’s message that Yirmiyah (Jeremiah) had previously proclaimed, that the land would become desolate to make up for the Rest Days that had been ignored—that took seventy years.[ref]
