Historical

Ahaz Succeeds Jotham in Judah

28 ^(A)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. ^(B)He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done. ^2 (C)But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also ^(D)made cast metal images for the Baals. ³ Furthermore, ^(E)he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and ^(F)burned his sons in fire, ^(G)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from the sons of Israel. ⁴ He sacrificed and ^(H)burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Judah Is Invaded

⁵ Therefore ^(I)the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they ^[a]defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties. ⁶ For ^(J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their fathers. ⁷ And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.

^8 (K)The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of ^(L)their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also ^[b]took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and ^(M)he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^(N)was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage ^(O)which has even reached heaven. ¹⁰ Now you are proposing to ^(P)subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Now then, listen to me and return the captives ^(Q)whom you captured from your brothers, ^(R)for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” ¹² Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming from the battle, ¹³ and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly. ¹⁵ Then ^(S)the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and ^(T)gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, ^(U)the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.

Compromise with Assyria

^16 (V)At that time King Ahaz sent word to the ^[c]kings of Assyria for help. ^17 (W)For the Edomites had come again and attacked Judah, and led away captives. ^18 (X)The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the ^[d]lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they had settled there. ¹⁹ For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of ^(Y)Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰ So ^(Z)Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. ^21 (AA)Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

²² Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz ^(AB)became even more unfaithful to the Lord. ^23 (AC)For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had ^[e]defeated him, and said, “^(AD)Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the ^[f]downfall of him and all Israel. ²⁴ Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he ^(AE)cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he ^(AF)closed the doors of the house of the Lord, and ^(AG)made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger. ^26 (AH)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ^27 (AI)So Ahaz ^[g]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of ^(AJ)Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

Hezekiah Succeeds Ahaz in Judah

29 ^(AK)Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ^2 (AL)He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father David had done.

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he ^(AM)opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the public square on the east.

Reforms Begun

⁵ Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. ^(AN)Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have abandoned Him and ^(AO)turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have ^[h]turned their backs. ⁷ They have also ^(AP)shut the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore ^(AQ)the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of ^(AR)hissing, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ For behold, ^(AS)our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this. ¹⁰ Now it is in my heart ^(AT)to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that His burning anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not be negligent now, for ^(AU)the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”

¹² Then the Levites arose: ^(AV)Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of ^(AW)the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; ¹³ and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and ^[i]Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴ and from the sons of Heman, ^[j]Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵ They assembled their brothers, ^(AX)consecrated themselves, and went in ^(AY)to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king ^(AZ)by the words of the Lord. ¹⁶ So the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord out to the courtyard of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to ^(BA)the Kidron ^[k]Valley. ¹⁷ Now they began ^[l]the consecration ^(BB)on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the porch of the Lord. Then they consecrated the house of the Lord in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month. ¹⁸ Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all of its utensils. ¹⁹ Moreover, ^(BC)all the utensils which King Ahaz had discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness, we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah got up early and assembled the princes of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats ^(BD)as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. And he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs as well, and ^(BE)sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³ Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and ^(BF)they laid their hands on them. ²⁴ The priests slaughtered them and purified the altar with their blood ^(BG)to atone for all Israel, because the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.

^25 (BH)He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, ^(BI)according to the command of David and of ^(BJ)Gad, the king’s seer, and of ^(BK)Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets. ²⁶ The Levites stood with ^(BL)the musical instruments of David, and ^(BM)the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, ^(BN)the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, ^[m]accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. ²⁸ While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, ^(BO)the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰ Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. ^(BP)So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “^(BQ)Now that you have ^[n]consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come forward and bring sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and ^(BR)everyone who was ^[o]willing brought burnt offerings. ³² The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all of these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³ The consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. ³⁴ But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; ^(BS)therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and the other priests had consecrated themselves. For ^(BT)the Levites were more ^[p]conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests. ³⁵ There were also ^[q](BU)many burnt offerings with ^(BV)the fat of the peace offerings and ^(BW)the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the Lord was established again. ³⁶ Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.