2Chronicles 34:1-11.Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of David his forefather and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

2Chronicles 34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images.

2Chronicles 34:4,5 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down and the groves and the carved images and the molten images, he brake in pieces and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

2Chronicles 34:6-11 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks.(a digging tool, perhaps weeding-hoes and/or axes and/or a flat bladed set at right angles to the handle instrument for dressing or pruning a vineyard).round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves and had beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and of all the remnant of Israel and of all Judah and Benjamin and they returned to Jerusalem. And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house. Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone and timber for couplings and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

2Chronicles 34:12 And the men did the work faithfully. And the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.

2Chronicles 34:13-21 Also they were over the bearers of burdens and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service and of the Levites there were scribes and officers and porters. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shaphan carried the book to the king and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and to the hand of the workmen. Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Abdon the son of Micah and Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go, enquire of the Lord for me and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.

2Chronicles 34:22-28 And Hilkiah and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college. And they spake to her to that effect. And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell you the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other Gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place and shall not be quenched. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord, so shall you say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof and humble yourself before me and did rend thy clothes and weep before me. I have even heard thee also saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

2Chronicles 34:29-33 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites and all the people, great and small and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

2Chronicles 35:12 And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto God, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

2Chronicles 35:20,21 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war, for God commanded me to make haste. Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

2Chronicles 35:22-24 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him and hearkened not.(being a stubborn person, he would not listen).unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.(Josiah, basically a good man, had his faults and this was one of them; he didn't have to go and fight, risking the death of many, but he wanted to; not good). And the archers shot at king Josiah and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

2Chronicles 35:25-27 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel and behold, they are written in the lamentations.(where is this book? as this lamentation does not appear in the.Book of Lamentations). Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the Lord, And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Where are these books?

2Chronicles 36:1,2 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 

2Chronicles 36:3 And the king of Egypt.(which one?).put him down.(took away his kingship).at Jerusalem and condemned those on the land if they didn't pay a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

2Chronicles 36:4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem and turned his name to Jehoiakim.(so Eliakim/Jehoiakim, king of Judah). And Pharaoh Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

2Chronicles 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

2Chronicles 36:6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar-II king of Babylon and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon..

The Assyrian king literally put a hook through the nose of captives, as appears in the remains of the ancient city of Nineveh.

2Chronicles 36:7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon.

2Chronicles 36:8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations which he did and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

2Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

2Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old.(he was actually 18:.2Kings 24:8,9; according to.Adam Clarke's Commentary, what it means is, the beginning of his reign fell in the eighth year {2Kings 24:10-12} of Nebuchadnezzar).when he began to reign and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

2Chronicles 36:10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar-II sent and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of God and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

2Chronicles 36:10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar-II sent and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord.(they took all the treasures of the place in Judah where they were in safekeeping by king Jehoiakim).and made Zedekiah his brother.(speaking of Jehoiakim's brother, also known as Mattaniah, before Nebuchadnezzar II changed his name:.2Kings 24:17).king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Why captivity?.Isaiah 5:12,13; Jeremiah 5:11-31; 2Chronicles 15:4-6; Deuteronomy 28th chapter.

God was all for them, did good for them, but they just 'spit in God's face'. Lesson being, humanity left on its own can't fend off the devil beings (1Peter 5:9; James 4:7), so man could see his life going to hell, as it were and would be intelligent enough to ask himself some questions about what to do about it. What can be done about this conundrum?.2Chronicles 15:4-6.

Information here on the major captivities of ancient Israel and Judah have been comprised with notes in various Bible dictionaries and commentaries. There were other captivities, because they were a stiffnecked people (Exodus 33:3,5) like one of them, king Jehoiakim. God wanted them to get on the good side so it would go well with them:.Deuteronomy 4:30-39. But they never had the heart to stick to it, even though they said they would:.Exodus 24:3. The people always had a way out of their troubles, but being as they were of low consciousness, they just couldn't stick to the way out:.Deuteronomy 30:1-3; Exodus 15:26.

Prophesies of destruction predicted to occur to the ancient nations of Israel and Judah were recorded long before they were to happen.(*):.Deuteronomy 28:36; 1Kings 14:15; Isaiah 39:6,7; Jeremiah 13:19; Amos 7:11; Luke 21:24. 

Israel's captivities:

The first captivity was the captivity of Israel to Egypt which lasted some 430 years until God sent Moses to retrieve them.

The second captivity occurred when Chushanrishathaim oppresed Israel for 8 years, in B.C.E. 1402, until the judge Othniel delivered Israel from their captivity.

The third captivity was when Hazael, B.C.E. 840-825, took Israel:.2Kings 13:1-3. 

Israel's fourth captivity. The part of Israel that was left from the second captivity, was here carried away in this third captivity, about B.C.E. 740, by Tiglath-pileser-III:.1Chronicles 5:25,26; 2Kings 15:29. 

Israel's fifth captivity occurred twenty years later by Shalmaneser, who reigned B.C.E. 727-722. He took what remained of Israel into captivity:.2Kings 17:1-23. There is no evidence that the ten tribes (which comprised Israel after they split from Judah) ever returned to the land they called Palestine. Jerusalem was capital of Judah. Samaria was capital of Israel. Judah and Israel were two separate nations at this time.

Also, a remnant of Israel was to be saved:.Romans 9:27. Though Judah and Israel both went into captivity, Judah still held somewhat of an affinity to God and Israel just didn't:.Isaiah 1:2-7; Jeremiah 3:6-14.

Israel's sixth captivity for stubborn, stiffnecked and obstinate Israel was by Sargon-II, B.C.E. 722-705, but it still wasn't enough to awaken Israel to God, so God sent lions among them while they were in captivity:.2Kings 17:24-28.

Many speculations have been indulged in with reference to these ten tribes comprising ancient Israel who became scattered throughout the east. From there, they may have migrated up into what is today known as Scotland, England, Ireland, down to South Africa, United States, etc. and from those places, throughout the world, being mostly in countries once comprising the now done away great British Empire, which at its height of greatness in the early 1900s, included over 20 percent of the world's land area and more than 400 million people. At that time the empire was so extensive that the Sun never set on it, that is, there was always a part of it where the Sun was shining. It was that vast.

Judah's captivities:
Judah's first captivity.was when cruel king Ahaz was reigning during B.C.E. 742-727:.2Chronicles 28:5-8.

Judah's second, sort of captivity.was king Sennacherib going after king Hezekiah. Sennacherib reigned B.C.E. 728-710:.2Kings 18:13-19:37.

Judah's third captivity, B.C.E. 698-643, happened when king Manasseh was reigning:.2Kings 21-25; 2Chronicles 33:11.

Judah's fourth captivity.was in his third year of reign of Jehoiakim, B.C.E. 606, when Daniel and others were carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar-II:.2Kings 24:1,2; Daniel 1:1 2. This was by Nebuchadnezzar-II and is also recorded here in this verse 10, but expanded and with some great advice in.Jeremiah 27:1,5-18. This captivity is mentioned also in.2Kings 24:1-14 & Daniel 1:1,2.

A remnant of what became known as Judah (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) was left so they could start again, wiser after their captivity:.Ezra 9:7,8; Nehemiah 9:31. 

Judah's fifth captivity.was in the eighth year of king Jehoiakim's reign, when Nebuchadnezzar-II carried 3,023 of Judah to Babylon. This was about B.C.E. 598:.2Kings 24:10-16; 2Chronicles 36:8; Jeremiah 52:31-34.

Judah's forth captivity.was in the reign of king Zedekiah, B.C.E. 588, when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and most that was valuable among the people and their treasures was carried to Babylon, but this was to be good for the captives:.2Kings 25:1-30; 2Chroniclea 36:14-16. The seventy years during which they were to remain in captivity, started from the third captivity with Jehoiakim in B.C.E. 606: Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10.

Judah's sixth captivity.was by Nebuchadnezzar-II, taking king Zedekiah in B.C.E. 588.Jeremiah 24:5-7. They caused all captivities upon themselves:.Jeremiah 5:11-31: 2Chronicles 28:1-11.

Judah had another, seventh.much later severe captivity, actually more of a total destruction, in 70 A.D..American Tract Society: In this captivity, according to Josephus, 1,100,000 perished at the siege of Jerusalem by cruel Titus and nearly 100,000 captives were scattered among the provinces to perish in gladiatorial shows, doomed to toil as public slaves or sold into private bondage. There is a medal cut, like a coin, of the emperor Vespasian, 71 A.D., in memory of the capture of Jerusalem.

Judah had an eighth.under the emperor Hadrian, 133 A.D. It was a similar crushing blow on those of Judah who had again assembled in Judea and at this day they are scattered all over the world, as also were those of the ten tribes of Israel and are all still suffering from the results unbelief had brought upon their fathers and themselves:.Romans 11:25,26.

2Chronicles 36:11-13 Zedekiah.(Mattaniah/Zedekiah:.2Kings 24:17).was one and twenty years old when he began to reign and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God and humbled not himself.(didn't listen to him as anything was important he was saying).before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar-II who had made him swear by God, but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. 

2Chronicles 36:14-16 Moreover all the chief of the priests and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent  his messengers betimes to them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.(Jerusalem). But they mocked the messengers of God and despised God's words by them and misused.(made light of what was said to them and used deceit on those trying to straighten them out).his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 

2Chronicles 36:17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age. He gave them all into his hand.

2Chronicles 36:18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.

2Chronicles 36:19 And they burnt the house of God and brake down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

2Chronicles 36:20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 

2Chronicles 36:21 To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths, for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

2Chronicles 36:22,23 Now in the first year of Cyrus.king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the Earth has the Lord God of heaven given me and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him and let him go up.

....next Old Testament book is Ezra