Bible in 90 Days
16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king: that they would be the LORD’s people.
17 And all the people went to the house of Baal and destroyed and broke his altars and his images and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.
18 And Jehoiada appointed officers for the House of the LORD, under the hands of the priests and Levites, whom David had distributed for the House of the LORD, to offer Burnt Offerings to the LORD, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, by the appointment of David.
19 And he set gatekeepers by the gates of the House of the LORD, so that no one who was unclean in anything could enter.
20 And he took the captains of hundreds and the noblemen and the governors of the people and all the people of the land; and he had the king come down out of the House of the LORD. And they went through the High Gate of the king’s house and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom.
21 Then, all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet after they had killed Athaliah with the sword.
24 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba.
2 And Joash did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, all the days of Jehoiada the Priest.
3 And Jehoiada took two wives for himself. And he begat sons and daughters.
4 And afterward it came into Joash’s mind to renew the House of the LORD.
5 And he assembled the priests and the Levites, and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to repair the House of your God, from year to year. And do so quickly!” But the Levites were not quick.
6 Therefore, the king called Jehoiada the High Priest and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the Congregation of Israel, for the Tabernacle of the Testimony?
7 “For wicked Athaliah and her children broke up the House of God. And they bestowed all the things that were dedicated for the House of the LORD upon Baal!”
8 Therefore, the king commanded. And they made a chest and set it at the gate of the House of the LORD, outside.
9 And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring the tax of Moses the servant of God to the LORD, as laid upon Israel in the wilderness.
10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought in and cast into the chest until they had finished.
11 And when it was time, they brought the chest to the king’s officer by the hand of the Levites. And when they saw that there was much silver, then the king’s scribe (and one appointed by the High Priest) came and emptied the chest and took it and carried it back to its place. Thus they did, day by day, and gathered silver in abundance.
12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the labor and work in the House of the LORD and hired masons and carpenters to repair the House of the LORD. They also hired workers of iron and bronze, to repair the House of the LORD.
13 So the workmen worked. And the work was finished through their hands. And they restored the House of God to its state and strengthened it.
14 And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the silver before the king and Jehoiada. And from it he made vessels for the House of the LORD, vessels for ministry, mortars and cups, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered Burnt Offerings in the House of the LORD continually, all the days of Jehoiada.
15 But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days and died. He was one hundred thirty years old when he died.
16 And they buried him with the kings, in the City of David, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and His House.
17 And after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and did reverence to the king. And the king listened to them.
18 And they left the House of the LORD God of their fathers and served groves and idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem, because of this their trespass.
19 And God sent Prophets among them, to bring them back to the LORD. And they testified against them. But they would not hear.
20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the Priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why do you transgress the Commandments of the LORD? Surely you shall not prosper! Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has also forsaken you!”
21 Then they conspired against him and stoned him with stones, at the commandment of the king, in the court of the House of the LORD.
22 Thus, Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said, “The LORD look upon it and require it!”
23 And when the year was out, the army of Aram came up against him. And they came against Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil of them to the king of Damascus.
24 Though the army of Aram came with a small company of men, the LORD still delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. And they gave sentence against Joash.
25 And when they had departed from him (for they left him with great disease), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the children of Jehoiada the Priest and killed him on his bed. And he died. And they buried him in the City of David. But they did not bury him in the sepulchers of the kings.
26 And these are those who conspired against him: Zabad, the son of Shimrath (an Ammonitess) and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith (a Moabitess).
27 As for his sons, and the sum of the tax gathered by him, and the foundation of the House of God, behold, they are written in the story of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned in his place.
25 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
2 And he did uprightly in the Eyes of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.
3 And when the kingdom was established to him, he killed his servants who had killed the king (his father).
4 But he did not kill their children, but did as it is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses where the LORD Commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not die for the children, nor shall the children die for the fathers. But every man shall die for his own sin.”
5 And Amaziah assembled Judah and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the Houses of their fathers throughout all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from twenty years old and above and found three hundred thousand chosen men among them to go forth to the war and to handle spear and shield.
6 He also hired a hundred thousand valiant men out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him, saying, “O king! Do not let the army of Israel go with you! For the LORD is neither with Israel nor with any of the House of Ephraim.
8 “If you must go, then do so. And make yourself strong for the battle. But God shall make you fall before the enemy! For God has power to help and to cast down.”
9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, “What shall we do then for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” Then the man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you more than this.”
10 So, Amaziah divided them. And made the army that had come to him out of Ephraim return to their place. Therefore, their wrath was kindled greatly against Judah; and they returned to their places with great anger.
11 Then Amaziah was encouraged and led forth his people and went to the salt valley and struck ten thousand of the children of Seir.
12 And the children of Judah took another ten thousand alive and carried them to the top of a rock and cast them down from the top of the rock. And they all burst into pieces.
13 But the men of the army whom Amaziah had sent away, so that they could not go with his people to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth Horon, and struck three thousand of them and took much spoil.
14 Now, after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir and set them up to be his gods and worshipped them and burned incense to them.
15 Therefore, the LORD was angry with Amaziah and sent a Prophet to him, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people which were not able to deliver their own people out of your hand?”
16 And as he talked with him, he said to him, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Cease! Why should we strike you?” And the Prophet ceased, but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not obeyed my counsel.”
17 Then Amaziah, king of Judah, took counsel and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another.”
18 But Joash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ And the wild beast that was in Lebanon went and trampled down the thistle.
19 “You think you have stricken Edom; and your heart lifts you up to brag. Stay at home now. Why do you provoke trouble so that you should fall, and Judah with you?”
20 But Amaziah would not hear. For it was of God, that He might deliver them into his hand because they had sought the gods of Edom.
21 So Joash, the king of Israel, went up. And he and Amaziah, king of Judah, faced one another at Bethshemesh (which is in Judah).
22 And Judah was defeated before Israel. And they fled, every man to his tents.
23 But Joash, the king of Israel, took Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, in Bethshemesh and brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate (four hundred cubits).
24 And he took all the gold and the silver and all the vessels that were found in the House of God with Obed Edom, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and also hostages, and returned to Samaria.
25 And Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived for fifteen years after the death of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
26 Concerning the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?
27 Now after the time that Amaziah turned away from the LORD, they worked treason against him in Jerusalem. And when he fled to Lachish, they sent to Lachish after him, and killed him there.
28 And they brought him upon horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.
26 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father, Amaziah.
2 He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
4 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.
5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah (who understood the visions of God). And when he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.
6 For he went forth and fought against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities in Ashdod and among the Philistines.
7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who dwelt in Gur Baal and Hammeunim.
8 And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah. And his name spread to the entrance of Egypt. For he did most valiantly.
9 Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the corner and made them strong.
10 And he built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns; for he had many cattle, both in the valleys and plains, and plowmen and dressers of vines in the mountains and in Carmel. For he loved the land.
11 Uzziah also had an army of fighting men who went out to war by bands, according to the count of their number prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.
12 The whole number of the chief of the families of the valiant men was two thousand six hundred.
13 And under their hand, the army for war was three hundred seven thousand, and five hundred who fought valiantly to help the king against the enemy.
14 And throughout all the camp, Uzziah prepared shields and spears and helmets and armor and bows and stones to sling.
15 He also made engines in Jerusalem, devised by cunning men, to be upon the towers and upon the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far and wide, because God helped him marvelously until he was mighty.
16 But after he became strong, his heart was lifted up, to his destruction. For he transgressed against the LORD his God and went into the Temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the Altar of incense.
17 And Azariah the Priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men.
18 And they stood before Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Go forth from the Sanctuary. For you have transgressed. And you shall have no honor from the LORD God.”
19 Then Uzziah was angry. And he had incense in his hand, to burn it. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy rose up in his forehead in front of the priests, in the House of the LORD, beside the incense Altar.
20 And when Azariah, the High Priest, looked upon him with all the priests, behold, he was leprous in his forehead. And they had him quickly depart from there. And he was compelled to go out, because the LORD had stricken him.
21 And Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death, and dwelt as a leper in a separate house, because he was cut off from the House of the LORD. And Jotham, his son, ruled over the king’s House and judged the people of the land.
22 Concerning the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, wrote Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz.
23 So, Uzziah slept with his fathers. And they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings. For they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham, his son, reigned in his place.
27 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did, except that he did not enter into the Temple of the LORD, and the people still corrupted their ways.
3 He built the High Gate of the House of the LORD. And he built very much on the wall of the castle.
4 Moreover, he built cities in the mountains of Judah. And he built palaces and towers in the forests.
5 And he fought with the kings of the children of Ammon and prevailed against them. And the same year, the children of Ammon gave him a hundred talents of silver and ten thousand measures of wheat and ten thousand of barley. This the children of Ammon gave him, both in the second year and the third.
6 So, Jotham became mighty because he directed his way before the LORD his God.
7 Concerning the rest of the acts of Jotham and all his wars and his ways, lo, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
8 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. And Ahaz, his son, reigned in his place.
28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not do uprightly in the sight of the LORD, like David his father.
2 But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made molten images for Baalim.
3 Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom, and burnt his sons with fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
4 He also sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on hills, and under every green tree.
5 Therefore, the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of the Aramites. And they struck him and took some of his many prisoners and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter.
6 For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed one hundred twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.
7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king’s son, and Azrikam, the governor of the House, and Elkanah, the second after the king.
8 And the children of Israel took prisoners of their brethren—two hundred thousand of the women, sons and daughters—and carried away much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.
9 But there was a Prophet of the LORD whose name Oded. And he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold! Because the LORD God of your fathers is angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand. And you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to Heaven!
10 “And now you intend to keep the children of Judah and Jerusalem under, as servants and handmaids to you. But are not your sins also with you before the LORD your God?
11 “Now therefore, hear me and bring back the captives whom you have taken prisoners from your brethren. For the fierce wrath of the LORD is toward you.”
12 Therefore, some of the chiefs of the children of Ephraim — Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum and Amasa the son of Hadlai — stood up against those who came from the war,
13 and said to them, “Do not bring the captives in here. For this shall be a sin upon us against the LORD. You intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass, though our trespass is great, as is the fierce wrath of God against Israel.”
14 So, the army left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the Congregation.
15 And the men who were named by name rose up and took the prisoners, and clothed all who were naked among them with the spoil, and arrayed them, and gave them sandals and food and drink, and anointed them, and carried all of them who were feeble upon donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the City of Palm Trees, to their brethren. So, they returned to Samaria.
16 At that time, King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help.
17 For the Edomites had come again and struck Judah and carried away captives.
18 The Philistines also invaded the cities in the low country, and toward the South of Judah, and took Beth Shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth and Sochoh (with their villages) and Timnah with its villages and Gimzo with its villages. And they dwelt there.
19 For the LORD had humbled Judah because of Ahaz, king of Israel. For he had brought vengeance upon Judah and had grievously transgressed against the LORD.
20 And Tilgath-Pilneser, king of Assyria, came to him, who troubled him and did not strengthen him.
21 For Ahaz took a portion out of the House of the LORD and out of the king’s house and of the princes’ and gave to the king of Assyria. Still, it did not help him.
22 And in the time of his tribulation, he trespassed even more against the LORD (this is King Ahaz).
23 For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which plagued him, and he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them. And they will help me.” Yet they were his ruin, and all of Israel.
24 And Ahaz gathered the vessels of the House of God, and broke the vessels of the House of God, and shut up the doors of the House of the LORD and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
25 And he made high places in every city of Judah, to burn incense to other gods, and the LORD God of his fathers was provoked to anger.
26 Concerning the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers. And they buried him in the city of Jerusalem but did not bring him to the sepulchers of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place.
29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old and reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
3 He opened the Doors of the House of the LORD in the first year, and in the first month of his reign, and repaired them.
4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the east street,
5 and said to them, “Hear me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now, and sanctify the House of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the Sanctuary!
6 “For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the Eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him, and turned away their faces from the Tabernacle of the LORD and turned their backs.”
7 “They have also shut the doors of the porch and quenched the lamps and have neither burnt incense nor offered Burnt Offerings to the God of Israel in the Sanctuary.
8 “Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has been on Judah and Jerusalem. And He has made them a scattering, a desolation, and a hissing, as you see with your eyes.
9 “For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword. And our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for the same reason.
10 “Now I intend to make a Covenant with the LORD God of Israel, so that He may turn away His fierce wrath from us.
11 “Now my sons, do not be deceived. For the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers, and to burn incense.”
12 Then the Levites arose. Of the sons of the Kohathites came Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah. And of the sons of Merari came Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehallelel. And of the Gershonites came Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joah.
13 And of the sons of Elizaphan came Shimri and Jeiel. And of the sons of Asaph came Zechariah and Mattaniah.
14 And of the sons of Heman came Jehiel and Shimei. And of the sons of Jeduthun came Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 And they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and came according to the commandment of the king, by the Words of the LORD, to cleanse the House of the LORD.
16 And the priests went into the inner parts of the House of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the Temple of the LORD into the court of the House of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out to the brook Kidron.
17 They began to sanctify it on the first day of the first month. And on the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of the LORD. So they sanctified the House of the LORD in eight days. And on the sixteenth day of the first month, they finished.
18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the House of the LORD, and the Altar of Burnt Offering, with all its vessels, and the Showbread Table, with all its vessels.
19 “And have we prepared and sanctified all the vessels which King Ahaz had cast aside when he reigned and transgressed. And behold, they are before the Altar of the LORD.”
20 And Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the princes of the city and went up to the House of the LORD.
21 And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs and seven male goats for a Sin Offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the Priests (the sons of Aaron) to offer them on the Altar of the LORD.
22 So, they killed the bulls, and the Priests received the blood, and sprinkled it upon the Altar. They also killed the rams and sprinkled the blood upon the Altar. And they killed the lambs; and they sprinkled the blood upon the Altar.
23 Then they brought the male goats for the Sin Offering before the king and the Congregation. And they laid their hands upon them.
24 And the Priests killed them. And they cleansed the Altar with their blood, to reconcile all Israel. For the king had commanded the Burnt Offering and the Sin Offering for all Israel.
25 He also appointed the Levites in the House of the LORD, and Gad the king’s Seer and Nathan the Prophet, with cymbals, with viols, and with harps, according to the commandment of David. For the commandment was by the Hand of the LORD and by the hands of His Prophets.
26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the Burnt Offering upon the Altar. And when the Burnt Offering began, the song of the LORD began with the trumpets, and the instruments of David, king of Israel.
28 And all the congregation worshipped, singing a song. And they blew the trumpets. All this continued until the Burnt Offering was finished.
29 And after they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped.
30 Then Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the Seer. So, they praised with joy, and they bowed themselves and worshipped.
31 And Hezekiah spoke, and said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come near and bring the Sacrifices and Thank Offerings into the House of the LORD.” And the Congregation brought Sacrifices and Thank Offerings. And every man who was willing in heart offered Burnt Offerings.
32 And the number of the Burnt Offerings which the Congregation brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a Burnt Offering to the LORD.
33 And they brought six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep for sanctification.
34 But the priests were too few and were not able to skin all the Burnt Offerings. Therefore their brethren, the Levites, helped them, until they had ended the work, and until other priests were sanctified. For the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
35 And also the Burnt Offerings were many, with the fat of the Peace Offerings and the Drink Offerings for the Burnt Offering. So, the service of the House of the LORD was set in order.
36 Then, Hezekiah rejoiced (and all the people) that God had made the people so ready. For the thing was done suddenly.
30 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the House of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel.
2 And the king and his princes and all the Congregation had taken counsel in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month.
3 For they could not keep it at the present time, because there were not enough sanctified priests, nor were the people gathered to Jerusalem.
4 And the thing pleased the king and all the Congregation.
5 And they decreed to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem. For they had not done it as it was written for a long time.
6 So, the posts went with letters by the commission of the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and with the commandment of the king, saying, “You children of Israel, turn back to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; and He will return to the remnant of you who has escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria.
7 “And do not be like your fathers, and like your brethren, who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers. Therefore, as you see, He made them desolate.
8 “Do not be stiff-necked now, as your fathers were, but give the hand to the LORD and come into His Sanctuary which He has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God. And the fierceness of His wrath shall turn away from you.
9 “For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find mercy before those who led them away captive. And they shall return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away His Face from you, if you convert to Him.”
10 So, the posts went from city to city throughout the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the way to Zebulun. But they ridiculed and mocked them.
11 Nevertheless, some from Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun submitted themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12 And the hand of God was in Judah, so that He gave them one heart to do the commandment of the king, and of the rulers, according to the Word of the LORD.
13 And many people assembled in Jerusalem, to keep the Feast of the Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly.
14 And they arose and took away the Altars that were in Jerusalem. And they took away all those for incense and cast them into the brook Kidron.
15 Afterward, they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought the Burnt Offerings into the House of the LORD.
16 And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the Law of Moses, the man of God. And the priests sprinkled the blood from the hands of the Levites.
17 Because there were many in the Congregation who were not sanctified, the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passover for all who were not clean, to sanctify it to the LORD.
18 For a multitude of the people — a multitude of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun — had not cleansed themselves, yet ate the Passover, not as it was written. Therefore, Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The good LORD be merciful toward
19 “whomever prepares his whole heart to seek the LORD God, the God of his fathers, though he is not according to the purification of the Sanctuary.”
20 And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
21 And the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of the Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. And the Levites and the priests praised the LORD, day by day, singing with loud instruments to the LORD.
22 And Hezekiah spoke encouragement to all the Levites who had good knowledge of the LORD. And they ate of that Feast for seven days, and offered Peace Offerings and praised the LORD God of their fathers.
23 And the whole assembly took counsel to keep it for another seven days. So, they kept it for seven days with joy.
24 For Hezekiah, king of Judah, had given a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep to the Congregation. And the princes had given a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep to the Congregation. And many priests were sanctified.
25 And all the Congregation of Judah rejoiced with the priests and the Levites, and all the Congregation who came out of Israel, and the strangers who came out of the land of Israel, and who dwelt in Judah.
26 So, there was great joy in Jerusalem. For since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there was not anything like it in Jerusalem.
27 Then, the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people. And their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to Heaven, to His holy habitation.
31 And when all these things were finished, all Israel went out and broke the images that were found in the cities of Judah, and cut down the groves, and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had finished. Afterward, all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possessions, into their own cities.
2 And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites by their turns, every man according to his office, priests and Levites for the Burnt Offering and Peace Offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the Tents of the LORD.
3 And the king appointed a portion of his own substance for the Burnt Offerings — for the Burnt Offerings in the morning and in the evening, and the Burnt Offerings for the Sabbaths and for the new moons and for the solemn Feasts — as it is written in the Law of the LORD.
4 He also commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to give a part to the priests and Levites, so that they might be encouraged in the Law of the LORD.
5 And when the commandment had spread, the children of Israel brought an abundance of firstfruits: grain, wine, oil, and honey. And they brought an abundance of all the increase of the field and the tithes of all things.
6 And the children of Israel and Judah who dwelt in the cities of Judah also brought the tithes of bulls and sheep and the holy tithes which were consecrated to the LORD their God and laid them on many heaps.
7 In the third month, they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month.
8 And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and His people Israel.
9 And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.
10 And Azariah, the High Priest, of the House of Zadok, answered him, and said, “Since the people began to bring the offerings into the House of the LORD, we have eaten and have been satisfied. And there is an abundance left. For the LORD has blessed His people and this abundance that is left.”
11 And Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the House of the LORD. And they prepared them,
12 and carried in the firstfruits and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully. And over them was Conaniah the Levite (the chief) and Shimei, his brother (the second)
13 and Jehiel and Azaziah and Nahath and Asahel, and Jerimoth and Jozabad and Eliel and Ismachiah and Mahath and Benaiah. These were overseers, by the appointment of Conaniah and Shimei, his brother, by the commandment of Hezekiah the king, and of Azariah, the chief of the House of God.
14 And Kore, the son of Imnah the Levite, gatekeeper toward the east, was over the things that were willingly offered to God, to distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the holy things that were consecrated.
15 And at his hand in the cities of the priests were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah, Amariah and Shechaniah, to distribute their daily portion with fidelity to their brethren by divisions, both to the great and small,
16 regardless of their generation, males from three years old and above, all who entered into the House of the LORD, to their office, in their charge, according to their divisions.
17 They distributed with fidelity both to the generation of the priests after the House of their fathers and to the Levites, from twenty years old and above, according to their charge, in their divisions,
18 and to the generation of all their children, their wives and their sons and their daughters, throughout all the Congregation. For by their fidelity, they are partakers of the holy things.
19 Also, of the sons of Aaron, the priests in the fields and suburbs of their cities, in every city, there were men who were appointed, by names, to give portions to all the males of the priests and to all the generations of the Levites.
20 And thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah. And he did well and uprightly and truly before the LORD his God.
21 And all the works that he began for the service of the House of God — both in the Law and in the Commandments, to seek his God — he did with all his heart and prospered.
32 After these faithful acts, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered into Judah and besieged the strong cities and thought to win them for himself.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to fight against Jerusalem,
3 he took counsel with his princes and his nobles to stop the water of the fountains outside the city. And they helped him.
4 So, many of the people assembled themselves and stopped all the fountains and the river that ran through the midst of the country, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?”
5 And he took courage and rebuilt the entire broken wall and erected towers and another outside wall and repaired Millo in the City of David and made many weapons and shields.
6 And he set captains of war over the people and assembled them to him in the broad place of the gate of the city and spoke encouragement to them, saying,
7 “Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or be afraid of the king of Assyria, or of all the multitude that is with him! For there are more with us than are with him!
8 “With him is an arm of flesh! But with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles!” Then the people were sustained by the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
9 After this, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent his servants to Jerusalem (while he and all his dominion with him were besieging Lachish) to Hezekiah, king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,
10 “Thus says Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, ‘In what do you trust, that you would remain in Jerusalem during a siege?
11 ‘Does not Hezekiah entice you to give yourselves over to death by famine and by thirst, saying, “The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?”
12 ‘Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one Altar and burn incense upon it?”
13 ‘Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the people of other countries? Were the gods of the nations of other lands able to deliver their land out of my hand?
14 ‘Who is He — among all the gods of those nations that my fathers have destroyed that could not deliver their people out of my hand — that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
15 ‘Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or seduce you in this way or believe him. For none of all the gods of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less shall your gods deliver you out of my hand?’”
16 And his servants spoke even more against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah.
17 He wrote also letters blaspheming the LORD God of Israel and speaking against Him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of other countries could not deliver their people out of my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver His people out of my hand.”
18 Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to scare them and to astonish them, so that they might take the city.
19 Thus they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, the works of man’s hands.
20 But Hezekiah the king and the Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed against this and cried to Heaven.
21 And the LORD sent an Angel which destroyed all the valiant men and the princes and captains of the army of the king of Assyria. So, he returned with shame to his own land. And when he had come into the house of his god, those of his own offspring killed him there with the sword.
22 So, the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others and guided them on every side.
23 And many brought offerings to the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations thereafter.
24 In those days, Hezekiah was sick to the death and prayed to the LORD, Who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
25 But Hezekiah did not repay according to the reward bestowed upon him; for his heart was lifted up. And wrath came upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 Nevertheless, Hezekiah humbled himself (after his heart had been lifted up), he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
27 Hezekiah also had abundant riches and honor. And he acquired treasures of silver, and of gold, and of precious stones, and of sweet odors, and of shields, and of all pleasant vessels,
28 and of store houses for the increase of wheat and wine and oil, and stalls for all beasts, and rows for the stables.
29 And he made cities for himself and had possession of sheep and oxen in abundance. For God had given him a large amount of substance.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper water springs of Gihon and led them straight underneath toward the City of David, westward. So, Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
31 But because of the ambassadors of the princes of Babel, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, to know all that was in his heart.
32 Concerning the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz, in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
33 So, Hezekiah slept with his fathers. And they buried him in the highest sepulcher of the sons of David. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place.
33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he went back and built the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down. And he set up altars for Baal and made groves and worshipped all the host of the heaven and served them.
4 Also, he built altars in the House of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem shall My Name be forever.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the House of the LORD.
6 And he made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom. He gave himself to witchcraft and to charming and to sorcery. And he used mediums and soothsayers. He did very much evil in the sight of the LORD to anger Him.
7 He also put the carved image which he had made in the House of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon, his son, “In this House and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever.
8 “I will no longer remove the foot of Israel out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers, so that they consider and do all that I have Commanded them, according to the Law and Statutes and Judgments by the hand of Moses.”
9 So, Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem err, to do worse than the heathen whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people; but they would not pay attention.
11 Therefore, the LORD brought the captains of the army of the king of Assyria upon them, who took Manasseh in fetters and bound him in chains and carried him to Babel.
12 And when he was in tribulation, he prayed to the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 and prayed to him. And God was moved by him, and heard his prayer, and brought him back to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
14 Now after this, he built a wall outside the City of David, on the western side of Gihon, in the valley, at the entry of the Fish Gate. And it surrounded Ophel and was raised very high. And he put captains of war in all the strong cities of Judah.
15 And he took away the strange gods and the image out of the House of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the House of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 Also, he prepared the Altar of the LORD, and sacrificed Peace Offerings on it, and those of thanks, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
17 Nonetheless, the people still sacrificed in the high places, but to the LORD their God.
18 Concerning the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the Seers who spoke to him in the Name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are in the Book of the Kings of Israel.
19 And his prayer and how God was moved by him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places and set groves and images (before he was humbled), behold, they are written in the Book of the Seers.
20 So, Manasseh slept with his fathers. And they buried him in his own house. And Amon, his son, reigned in his place.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign and reigned for two years in Jerusalem.
22 But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father. For Amon sacrificed to all the images which Manasseh his father had made and served them.
23 And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself. But this Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house.
25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his place.
34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.
2 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and bowed neither to the right nor to the left.
3 And in the eighth year of his reign (when he was still a child) 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 molten images.
4 And they broke down the altars of Baal in his sight. And he had the images that were high upon them cut down. He also broke the groves and the carved images and the molten images and stamped them to powder and scattered it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5 Also, he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem
6 and the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, up to Naphtali, with their axes, all around.
7 And when he had destroyed the altars and the groves and had broken and stamped the images into powder and had cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 Then in the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purged the land and the temple, 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.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah, the High Priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the House of God, which the Levites who kept the door had gathered at the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and of all the rest of Israel and of all Judah and Benjamin and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hands of those who would do the work and had the oversight in the House of the LORD. And they gave it to the workmen who labored in the House of the LORD to repair and restore the House.
11 They even gave it to the workmen and to the builders to buy hewn stone and timber for couplings and for beams of the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully. And their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah (Levites, of the children of Merari) and Zechariah and Meshullam (of the children of the Kohathites) to set it forward. And other Levites, all of whom were skilled with instruments of music,
13 were over the bearers of burdens, and those who set forward all the workmen in every work. And of the Levites were scribes and officers and gatekeepers.
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the House of the LORD, Hilkiah the Priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
15 Therefore, Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan, the chancellor, “I have found the Book of the Law in the House of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the Book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the Book to the king and brought the king word back, saying, “All that is committed to the hand of your servants they are doing.
17 “For they have gathered the money that was found in the House of the LORD and have delivered it into the hands of the overseers and to the hands of the workmen.”
18 Also, Shaphan the chancellor declared to the king, saying, “Hilkiah the Priest has given me a Book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
19 And when the king heard the Words of the Law, he tore his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan the chancellor, and Asaiah, the king’s servant, saying,
21 “Go! Inquire of the LORD for me and for the rest in Israel and Judah concerning the Words of this Book that is found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has fallen upon us because our fathers have not kept the Word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this Book.”
22 Then Hilkiah, and those whom the king had appointed, went to Huldah the Prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (she dwelt in Jerusalem within the college) and they spoke of this with her.
23 And she answered them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,
24 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring misery upon this place, and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the Book which they have read before the king of Judah.
25 ‘Because they have forsaken Me and burnt incense to other gods, to anger Me with all the works of their hands, therefore shall My wrath fall upon this place and shall not be quenched.’”’
26 “But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall you say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel regarding the Words which you have heard:
27 “Because your heart melted, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His Words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and humbled yourself before Me, and tore your clothes, and wept before Me, I have also heard it,” says the LORD.’
28 “Behold, I will gather you to your fathers. And you shall be put in your grave in peace. And your eyes shall not see all the misery which I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same.”’” Thus, they brought back Word to the king.
29 Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 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 from the greatest to the smallest. And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant that were found in the House of the LORD.
31 And the king stood by his pillar 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, so that he would accomplish the Words of the Covenant written in the same Book.
32 And he made all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand firm in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the Covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 So, Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that belonged to the children of Israel, and compelled all who were found in Israel to serve the LORD their God. So in all his days, they did not turn back from the LORD God of their fathers.
35 Moreover, Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. And they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 And he appointed the priests to their charges and encouraged them to the service of the House of the LORD.
3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and were sanctified to the LORD, “Put the Holy Ark in the House which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden upon your shoulders. Serve the LORD your God, now, and His people Israel,
4 “and prepare yourselves by the Houses of your fathers, according to your divisions, as David the king of Israel has written, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
5 “And stand in the Sanctuary according to the division of the families of your brethren, the children of the people, and the division of the family of the Levites.
6 “So kill the Passover and sanctify yourselves and prepare your brethren, so that they may do according to the Word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.”
7 Josiah also gave sheep, lambs and kids to the people, all for the Passover, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls. These were from the king’s possessions.
8 And his princes offered willingly to the people, to the priests and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the House of God, gave two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred bulls to the priests for the Passover.
9 Also, Conaniah and Shemaiah and Nethanel (his brethren), Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave five thousand sheep and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover.
10 Thus the service was prepared. And the Priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their orders, according to the king’s commandment.
11 And they killed the Passover. And the priests sprinkled the blood with their hands. And the Levites skinned them.
12 And they took away the Burnt Offering, to give it according to the divisions of the families of the children of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses, and the same for the bulls.
13 And they roasted the Passover with fire, according to the custom. But they boiled the sanctified things in pots, pans and cauldrons, and distributed them quickly to all the people.
14 And afterward, they prepared for themselves and for the priests. For the priests, the sons of Aaron, were occupied in the offering of Burnt Offerings and the fat until night. Therefore, the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests (the sons of Aaron).
15 And the singers (the sons of Asaph) stood in their places according to the commandment of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the king’s Seer. And the gatekeepers were at every gate, who may not depart from their service. Therefore, their brethren, the Levites, prepared for them.
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