Beginning

28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began his sixteen-year reign in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father [forefather].

² But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even made molten images for the Baals.

³ And he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] and burned his sons as an offering, after the abominable customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.

⁴ He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵ Therefore the Lord his God gave Ahaz into the power of the king of Syria, who defeated him and carried away a great multitude of the Jews as captives, taking them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who smote Judah with a great slaughter.

⁶ For Pekah son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, all courageous men, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.

⁷ And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah, King Ahaz’ son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah, who was second to the king.

⁸ And the Israelites carried away captive 200,000 of their kinsmen [of Judah]—women, sons, and daughters—and also took much plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.

⁹ But a prophet of the Lord was there whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that was returning to Samaria and said to them, Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He delivered them into your hand; but you have slain them in a fury that reaches up to heaven.

¹⁰ And now you intend to suppress the people of Judah and Jerusalem, both men and women, as your slaves. But are not you yourselves guilty of crimes against the Lord your God?

¹¹ Now hear me therefore, and set the prisoners free again whom you have taken captive of your kinsmen, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.

¹² Then certain of the heads of the Ephraimites [Israel]—Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood up against those returning from the war

¹³ And said, You shall not bring the captives in here; we are guilty before the Lord already, and what you intend will add more to our sins and our guilt. For our trespass (guilt) is great, and there is fierce anger against Israel.

¹⁴ So the armed men [of Israel] left the captives and the spoil [of Judah] before the princes and all the assembly.

¹⁵ And the men who have been mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them; and having clothed them, shod them, given them food and drink, anointed them [as was a host’s duty], and carried all the feeble of them upon donkeys, they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palm Trees, to their brethren. Then they returned to Samaria.^(A)

¹⁶ At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria to help him.

¹⁷ For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah and carried away captives.

¹⁸ The Philistines had invaded the cities of the low country and of the South (the Negeb) of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco, and also Timnah and Gimzo, with their villages, and they settled there.

¹⁹ For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for Ahaz had dealt with reckless cruelty against Judah and had been faithless [had transgressed sorely] against the Lord.

²⁰ So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him without strengthening him.

²¹ For Ahaz took [treasure] from the house of the Lord and out of the house of the king and from the princes and gave it as tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help Ahaz.

²² In the time of his distress he became still more unfaithful to the Lord—this same King Ahaz.

²³ For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, for he said, Since the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

²⁴ And Ahaz collected the utensils of the house of God and cut them in pieces; and he shut up the doors of the Lord’s temple [the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies] and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

²⁵ In each city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers.

²⁶ Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, from first to 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, in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

29 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

² And he did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father [forefather] had done.

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord [which his father had closed] and repaired them.

⁴ He brought together the priests and Levites in the square on the east

⁵ And said to them, Levites, hear me! Now sanctify (purify and make free from sin) yourselves and the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.

⁶ For our fathers have trespassed and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have forsaken Him and have turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the Lord and have turned their backs.

⁷ Also they have closed the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the place holy to the God of Israel.^(B)

⁸ Therefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them to be a terror and a cause of trembling, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as you see with your own eyes.

⁹ For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this.

¹⁰ Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that His fierce anger may turn away from us.

¹¹ My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, to be His ministers, and to burn incense to Him.

¹² Then the Levites arose: Mahath son of Amasai, Joel son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish son of Abdi, Azariah son of Jehallelel; of the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

¹³ Of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah, and Mattaniah;

¹⁴ Of the sons of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵ They gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and went in, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

¹⁶ The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the Lord’s house. And the Levites carried it out to the brook Kidron.

¹⁷ They began on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day they finished.

¹⁸ Then they went to King Hezekiah and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the showbread table with all its utensils.

¹⁹ Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz in his reign cast away when he was transgressing [faithless] we have made ready and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.

²¹ They brought seven each of bulls, rams, lambs, and he-goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the Lord’s altar.

²² So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the rams and then the lambs, they dashed the blood against the altar.

²³ Then the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.

²⁴ The priests killed them and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and sin offering be made for all Israel.

²⁵ Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David [his forefather] and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet had commanded; for the commandment was from the Lord through His prophets.

²⁶ The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

²⁷ Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by King David of Israel.

²⁸ And all the congregation worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ When they had stopped offering, the king and all present with him bowed themselves and worshiped.

³⁰ Also King Hezekiah and the princes ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness and bowed themselves and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord; come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.

³² And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.

³³ And the consecrated things were 600 oxen and 3,000 sheep.

³⁴ But the priests were too few and could not skin all the burnt offerings. So until the other priests had sanctified themselves, their Levite kinsmen helped them until the work was done, for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in sanctifying themselves.

³⁵ Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the Lord’s house was set in order.

³⁶ Thus Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of what God had prepared for the people, for it was done suddenly.

30 Hezekiah sent to all Israel [as well as] Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the Lord’s house at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.

² For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem took counsel to keep the Passover in the ^[a]second month.^(C)

³ For they could not keep it at the set time because not enough priests had sanctified themselves, neither had the people assembled in Jerusalem.

⁴ The new time pleased the king and all the assembly.

⁵ So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem. For they had not kept it collectively as prescribed for a long time.

⁶ So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, as the king commanded, saying, O Israelites, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those left of you who escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria.

⁷ Do not be like your fathers and brethren, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation [to be an astonishment], as you see.

⁸ Now be not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His fierce anger may turn away from you.

⁹ For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and He will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him.

¹⁰ So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but the people laughed them to scorn and mocked them.

¹¹ Yet, a few of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

¹² Also the hand of God came upon Judah to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.

¹³ And many people came to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly.

¹⁴ They rose up and took away the altars [to idols] that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars and utensils for incense [to the gods] they took away and threw into the Kidron Valley [dumping place for the ashes of such abominations].

¹⁵ Then they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings to the Lord’s house.

¹⁶ They stood in their accustomed places, as directed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw [against the altar] the blood they received from the hand of the Levites.

¹⁷ For many were in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves [become clean and free from all sin]. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all who were not clean, in order to make them holy to the Lord.

¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than Moses directed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, May the good Lord pardon everyone

¹⁹ Who sets his heart to seek and yearn for God—the Lord, the God of his fathers—even though not complying with the purification regulations of the sanctuary.

²⁰ And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ And the Israelites who were in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with instruments of much volume to the Lord.

²² Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the Lord’s work. So the people ate the seven-day appointed feast, offering peace offerings, making confession [and giving thanks] to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

²³ And the whole assembly took counsel to prolong the feast another seven days; and they kept it another seven days with joy.

²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly 1,000 young bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the princes gave 1,000 young bulls and 10,000 sheep. And a great number of priests sanctified themselves [for service].

²⁵ All the assembly of Judah, with the priests, the Levites, and all the assembly who with the sojourners came from the land of Israel to dwell in Judah, rejoiced.

²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.

²⁷ Then the priests and Levites arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to [God’s] holy habitation in heaven.

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel present there went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars or obelisks, cut down the Asherim, and threw down the high places [of idolatry] and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.

² And Hezekiah appointed the priests and the Levites after their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord.

³ King Hezekiah’s personal contribution was for the burnt offerings: [those] of morning and evening, for the Sabbaths, for the New Moons, and for the appointed feasts, as written in the Law of the Lord.

⁴ He commanded the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites, that they might [be free to] give themselves to the Law of the Lord.

⁵ As soon as the command went abroad, the Israelites gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, vintage fruit, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

⁶ The people of Israel and Judah who lived in Judah’s cities also brought the tithe of cattle and sheep and of the dedicated things which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and they laid them in heaps.

⁷ In the third month [at the end of wheat harvest] they began to lay the foundation or beginning of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month.

⁸ When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and His people Israel.

⁹ Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and Levites about the heaps.

¹⁰ Azariah the high priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the Lord’s house, we have eaten and have plenty left, for the Lord has blessed His people, and what is left is this great store.

¹¹ Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare chambers [for storage] in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them

¹² And brought in the offerings, tithes, and dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was in charge of them, and Shimei his brother came next.

¹³ And Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers directed by Conaniah and Shimei his brother, at the appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the chief officer of the house of God.

¹⁴ Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contributions of the Lord and the most holy things.

¹⁵ Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the priests’ cities, in their office of trust faithfully to give to their brethren by divisions, to great and small alike,

¹⁶ Except those [Levites] registered as males from three years old and upward—who were consecrated to the temple service [in Jerusalem, for their daily portion] as the duty of every day required, for their service according to their offices by their divisions.

¹⁷ The registration of the priests was according to their fathers’ houses; that of the Levites from twenty years old and upward was according to their offices by their divisions;

¹⁸ Also there was the registration of all their little ones, their wives, and their older sons and daughters through all the congregation. For in their office of trust they cleansed themselves and set themselves apart in holiness.

¹⁹ Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities or in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name to give portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were registered among the Levites.

²⁰ Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah, and he did what was good, right, and faithful before the Lord his God.

²¹ And every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in keeping with the law and the commandments to seek his God [inquiring of and yearning for Him], he did with all his heart, and he prospered.