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The year of the world was 4762. Manasseh, son of Hezekiah and Hephzibah, having become king of Judah at 12 years of age, became most defiled and most impious, living with idolatries and unjust bloodshed, and with omens, sorceries, and adulteries. He set up a four-faced statue of Zeus in the house of the Lord. But having been captured by the king of the Assyrians who campaigned against him and having been shut up in a bronze statue, he prayed to God, singing the ode which even to this day is wondrous and full of compunction, by which God was moved, and when the statue broke apart, he was saved, being restored to his kingdom. He, having experienced the ineffable love of God for those who repent, ceased from idolatry and the rest of his vanity, casting out the idol of Zeus from the house of the Lord, which he himself had brought in, and throwing it outside the city with the other abominations. He himself built the southern wall of Jerusalem and restored the temple, living the rest of his life in piety. Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk prophesied. Huldah, a woman among the Hebrews, prophesied. As the 15th king of Judah, Amon son of Manasseh reigned for 2 years. The year of the world was 4847. 255 He was most wicked. In his 2nd year, those around him killed him; but the people rose up against the murder of Amon son of Manasseh. Eusebius says he reigned for twelve years according to the Septuagint; but he is mistaken. As the 16th king of Judah, Josiah son of Amon reigned for 31 years. The year of the world was 4849. and of Jedidah, the daughter of Uzziah. The Scythians overran Palestine and seized Bashan, which was called Scythopolis after them. Hilkiah the high priest, father of Jeremiah and Susanna, served as priest. Zephaniah prophesied. In the 13th year of Josiah, and in the year of the world 4863, Jeremiah began to prophesy. And from the 5th year of his prophecy, that is from the 18th year of Josiah, some count the 70 years of the captivity until the 1st year of Cyrus. Huldah, a Hebrew woman, prophesied. Josiah son of Amon and of Jedidah the daughter of Uzziah reigned over Judah, beginning to reign when he was eight years old, for 34 years. He was seen to be the most pious of all who reigned before him and after him. In his time, Hilkiah the high priest, having found a book of the law in the temple and having shared it with Shaphan the scribe, showed it to Josiah. And he, hearing the divine words read aloud, being exceedingly God-loving, tore his clothes, and having cleansed the temple of God of the abominations which his father Amon had set up, he turned both Jerusalem and all Judah from idolatry, and burned the idols and the bones of the impious on the altars, in every way destroying the defilements throughout all Judea and Samaria, just as the prophet who came from Judah to Jeroboam had prophesied concerning him, whom the lion killed as he was returning because he had eaten in the house of his fellow prophet. In his time the wondrous Passover was held. 256 He, having joined battle with Pharaoh Necho, who had not come against him but was even declining the fight against him, Josiah was shot with arrows and died, and was carried away to Jerusalem. Josiah son of Amon son of Manasseh, having reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem, surpassed all the kings before and after him in divine zeal, taking down the idols and objects of worship everywhere and removing the idolaters, some living, others dead in their tombs. In the 18th year of his reign a Passover took place in Jerusalem, such as, says the 2nd book of Chronicles, had not happened in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet and of any king of Israel. They did not keep a Passover like the one that Josiah and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were found in Jerusalem kept. He burned the ventriloquists and the soothsayers and the teraphim and the idols and the karesim, which were in the land of Judah and in Israel, in order to establish the words of the law written in the book which Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.

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κόσμου ἦν ἔτος δψζβʹ. Μανασσῆς υἱὸς Ἐζεκίου καὶ Ἐψιβαὰλ ιβʹ ἐτῶν βασιλεύσας τοῦ Ἰούδαμιαρώτατος γέγονε καὶ ἀσεβέστατος εἰδωλολατρείαις καὶ αἱματεκχυσίαις ἀδίκοις, οἰωνισμοῖς τε καὶ φαρμακείαις καὶ μοιχείαις συζῶν. οὗτος ἐν οἴκῳ κυρίου ∆ιὸς ἄγαλμα τετραπρόσωπον ἔστησεν. ἁλοὺς δὲ ὑπὸ Ἀσσυρίων βασιλέως ἐπιστρατεύσαντος αὐτῷ καὶ εἰς ἄγαλμα χαλκοῦν κατακλεισθεὶς ἐδεήθη τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ᾠδὴν ᾄσας, ἥτις μέχρι καὶ νῦν θαυμαστή τίς ἐστι καὶ γέμουσα κατανύξεως, ἐφ' ᾗ δυσωπηθεὶς ὁ θεός, διαρραγέντος τοῦ ἀγάλματος, διεσώθη ἀποκαταστὰς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ. οὗτος πεῖραν λαβὼν τῆς ἀφάτου φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοῖς μετανοοῦσι τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας καὶ λοιπῆς ἐπαύσατο ματαιότητος, τὸ τοῦ ∆ιὸς εἴδωλον ἐκβαλὼν ἐξ οἴκου κυρίου, ὃ ἦν αὐτὸς εἰσαγαγών, καὶ ῥίψας ἔξω τῆς πόλεως σὺν τοῖς λοιποῖς βδελύγμασιν. ὁ αὐτὸς τὸ νότιον τεῖχος τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ᾠκοδόμησε καὶ τὸν ναὸν ἀνεκτίσατο, ζήσας τὸ λοιπὸν ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ. Προεφήτευον Ἰωήλ, Ἀβδιοῦ, Ἰωνᾶς, Ναούμ, Ἀμβακούμ. Ὀλδὰ γυνπαρ' Ἑβραίοις προεφήτευε. Τοῦ Ἰούδα ιεʹ ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀμὼς υἱὸς Μανασσῆ ἔτη βʹ. τοῦ δὲ κόσμου ἦν ἔτος δωμζʹ. 255 Οὗτος πονηρότατος ἦν. τοῦτον τῷ βʹ ἔτει αὐτοῦ ἀνεῖλον οἱ περὶ αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ λαὸς ἐπεξῆλθε τῷ φόνῳ τὸν Ἀμὼς υἱὸν Μανασσῆ. δώδεκα ἔτη Εὐσέβιος λέγει βασιλεῦσαι κατὰ τοὺς οʹ· ψεύδεται δέ. Τοῦ Ἰούδα ιςʹ ἐβασίλευσεν Ἰωσίας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς ἔτη λαʹ. τοῦ δὲ κόσμουἦν ἔτος δωμθʹ. καὶ Γεδιδᾶς τῆς Ὀζίου θυγατρός. Σκύθαι τὴν Παλαιστίνην κατέδραμον καὶ τὴν Βασὰν κατέσχον τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν κληθεῖσαν Σκυθόπολιν. Χελκίας ἀρχιερεὺς ἱεράτευσε πατὴρ Ἱερεμίου καὶ Σωσάννης. Σοφονίας προεφήτευε. Τῷ ιγʹ ἔτει Ἰωσίου, κόσμου δὲ ἔτει δωξγʹ ἤρξατο προφητεύειν Ἱερεμίας. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ εʹ ἔτους τῆς προφητείας αὐτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ιηʹ ἔτους Ἰωσίου, ἀριθμοῦσί τινες τὰ οʹ ἔτη τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἕως τοῦ αʹ ἔτους Κύρου. Ὀλδὰ γυνὴ Ἑβραία προεφήτευεν. Ἰωσίας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς καὶ Γεδδιδὰς τῆς Ὀζίου θυγατρὸς ἐβασίλευσε τοῦ Ἰούδα, ὀκταέτης ὢν ἀρξάμενος τοῦ βασιλεύειν, ἔτη λδʹ. Οὗτος εὐσεβέστατος πάντων τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν βασι λευσάντων ὤφθη. ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ Χελκίας ἀρχιερεὺς εὑρὼν ἐν τῷ ναῷ βιβλίον τοῦ νόμου καὶ Σαφατεὶ τῷ γραμματεῖ κοινωσάμενος ἐπέδειξε τῷ Ἰωσίᾳ. ὁ δὲ τοὺς θείους λόγους ἐπαναγνωσθέντας ἀκούσας, σφόδρα θεοφιλὴς ὤν, διέρρηξε τὴν ἐσθῆτα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καθαρίσας ἀπὸ τῶν βδελυγμάτων ὧν ἔστησεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Ἀμώς, τήν τε Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ὅλον τὸν Ἰούδαν ἀποστήσας τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας τὰ εἴδωλα καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ὀστᾶ τοῖς θυσιαστηρίοις ἐπέκαυσε, παντοίως ἐκπορθήσας τὰ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν καὶ τὴν Σαμάρειαν μιάσματα, καθὼς προεφήτευσε περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐξ Ἰούδα παραγενόμενος προφήτης πρὸς Ἱεροβωάμ, ὃν ἐθανάτωσεν ὁ λέων ὑποστρέφοντα διότι ἔφαγεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ συμπρο φήτου αὐτοῦ. ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ θαυμαστὸν ἤχθη πάσχα. 256 Οὗτος συμβαλὼν εἰς πόλεμον τῷ Νεχαῷ Φαραῷ οὐκ ἐπελθόντι αὐτῷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ παραιτουμένῳ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν μάχην, κατατοξευθεὶς Ἰωσίας ἐτελεύτησεν, ἀποκομισθεὶς εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ἰωσίας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς υἱοῦ Μανασσῆ λʹ καὶ ἓν ἔτος βασιλεύσας ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πάντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν βασιλεῖς ὑπερῆρε τῷ θείῳ ζήλῳ, τά τε πανταχοῦ εἴδωλα καὶ σεβάσματα καθελὼν καὶ τοὺς εἰδωλο λατροῦντας ἐξάρας, τοὺς μὲν ζῶντας, τοὺς δὲ θανόντας ἐν τοῖς τάφοις αὐτῶν. Τῷ ιηʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο πάσχα ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ, οἷον, φησὶν ἡ τῶν Παραλειπομένων βʹ βίβλος, οὐκ ἐγένετο ἐν Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ ἡμερῶν Σαμουὴλ τοῦ προφήτου καὶ παντὸς βασιλέως Ἰσραήλ. οὐκ ἐποίησαν ὡς τὸ φασέκ, ὃ ἐποίησεν Ἰωσίας καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς καὶ οἱ Λευῖται καὶ πᾶς Ἰούδας καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οἱ εὑρεθέντες ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Οὗτος τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους καὶ τοὺς γνώστας καὶ τὰ θεραφεὶμ καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα καὶ τὰ καρεσείμ, ἃ ἦν ἐν γῇ Ἰούδα καὶ ἐν Ἰσραήλ, ἐνεπύρισεν, ἵνα στήσῃ τοὺς λόγους τοὺς γεγραμμένους τοῦ νόμου ἐπὶ τοῦ βιβλίου ὃ εὗρε Χελκίας ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ κυρίου.