Historical

Ahaz King of Judah

28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. And he ruled 16 years in Jerusalem. He was not like his ancestor David. He did not do what the Lord said was right. ² Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He made metal idols to worship Baal. ³ He burned incense in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He sacrificed his own sons by burning them in the fire. He did the same terrible sins as the other nations had done. And the Lord had forced these nations out of the land ahead of the Israelites. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where false gods were worshiped. And he did this on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵ So the Lord his God let the king of Aram defeat Ahaz. The Arameans defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners. The Arameans took them to Damascus.

The Lord also let Pekah king of Israel defeat Ahaz. Pekah’s army killed many soldiers of Ahaz. ⁶ Pekah was the son of Remaliah. Pekah’s army killed 120,000 brave soldiers from Judah in one day. Pekah defeated them because they had left the Lord. He is the God their ancestors obeyed. ⁷ Zicri was a warrior from Ephraim. He killed King Ahaz’s son Maaseiah. He also killed Azrikam, the officer in charge of the palace and Elkanah, second in command to the king. ⁸ The Israelite army captured 200,000 of their own relatives. They took women, sons and daughters and many valuable things from Judah. Then they carried them back to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He met the Israelite army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “The Lord is the God your ancestors obeyed. He let you defeat Judah because he was angry with those people. But God has seen the cruel way you killed them. ¹⁰ Now you plan to make the people of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But you also have sinned against the Lord your God. ¹¹ Now listen to me. Send back your brothers and sisters whom you captured. Do this because the Lord is very angry with you.”

¹² Then some of the leaders in Israel met the Israelite soldiers coming home from war. These leaders were Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai. ¹³ They warned the soldiers, “Don’t bring the prisoners from Judah here. If you do, we will be guilty of sin. That will make our sin and guilt even worse. And our guilt is already so much that the Lord is angry with Israel.”

¹⁴ So the soldiers left the prisoners and valuable things in front of the officers and people there. ¹⁵ The leaders who were named took the prisoners. These four men got the clothes that the Israelite army had taken. And they gave them to these people who were naked. They gave the prisoners clothes, sandals, food, drink and medicine. They put the weak prisoners on donkeys. Then they took them back to their families in Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned home to Samaria.

^16-17 At that same time the Edomites came again. They attacked Judah and carried away prisoners. So King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. ¹⁸ The Philistines also robbed the towns in the western mountain slopes and in southern Judah. They captured the towns of Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah and Gimzo. They also captured the villages around them. Then the Philistines lived in those towns. ¹⁹ The Lord brought trouble on Judah because of Ahaz their king. Ahaz had caused the people of Judah to sin. And he had been unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰ Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz. But he gave Ahaz trouble instead of help. ²¹ Ahaz took some valuable things from the Temple of the Lord. He also took some from the king’s palace and from the princes. Ahaz gave them to the king of Assyria, but it did not help.

²² In Ahaz’s troubles he was even more unfaithful to the Lord. ²³ He offered sacrifices to the gods the people of Damascus worshiped. These people had defeated him. So he thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them. If I offer sacrifices to them, they will help me also.” But this brought ruin to Ahaz and all Israel.

²⁴ Ahaz gathered the things from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. Then he closed the doors of the Temple of the Lord. He made altars and put them on every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every town in Judah, Ahaz made places for burning sacrifices to worship other gods. He made the Lord, the God his ancestors worshiped, very angry.

²⁶ The other things Ahaz did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ Ahaz died and was buried in the city of Jerusalem. But he was not buried in the graves of the kings of Israel. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king in his place.

Hezekiah Purifies the Temple

29 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. And he ruled 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. ² Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right. He did just as his ancestor David had done.

³ Hezekiah opened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. He did this in the first month of the first year he was king. ⁴ Hezekiah brought the priests and Levites together in a group. He met with them in the courtyard on the east side of the Temple. ⁵ Hezekiah said, “Listen to me, Levites! Make yourselves ready for the Lord’s service. And make the Temple of the Lord holy. He is the God your ancestors obeyed. Remove from the Temple the things that make it impure. ⁶ Our ancestors were unfaithful to God. They did what the Lord said was wrong. They left the Lord. They stopped worshiping at the Temple where he lives. They rejected him. ⁷ They shut the doors of the porch of the Temple. They let the fire go out in the lamps. They stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ So the Lord became very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And he punished them. Other peoples are frightened and shocked by what the Lord did to Judah and Jerusalem. They insult the people of Judah. You know these things are true. ⁹ That is why our ancestors were killed in battle. That is why our sons, daughters and wives were taken prisoner. ¹⁰ So now I, Hezekiah, have decided to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel. Then he will not be angry with us anymore. ¹¹ My sons, don’t waste any more time. The Lord chose you to serve him. You should serve him and burn incense to him.”

¹² These are the Levites who started to work. From the Kohathite family there were Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah. From the Merarite family there were Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel. From the Gershonite family there were Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah. ¹³ From Elizaphan’s family there were Shimri and Jeiel. From Asaph’s family there were Zechariah and Mattaniah. ¹⁴ From Heman’s family there were Jehiel and Shimei. From Jeduthun’s family there were Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵ These Levites gathered their brothers together. Then they made themselves holy for service in the Temple. They obeyed the king’s command that had come from the Lord. They went into the Temple of the Lord to purify it. ¹⁶ The priests went into the Temple of the Lord to purify it. They took out all the unclean things they found in the Temple of the Lord. And they put them in the Temple courtyard. Then the Levites took these things out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ They made the Temple holy for the Lord’s service. They began on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of the Temple. For eight more days they made the Temple of the Lord holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸ Then they went to King Hezekiah. They said to him, “We have purified all the Temple of the Lord. We have purified the altar for burnt offerings and its things. We have purified the table for the holy bread and all its things. ¹⁹ When Ahaz was king, he was unfaithful to God. He removed some things from the Temple. But we have put them back and made them holy for the Lord. They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”

²⁰ Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city. They went up to the Temple of the Lord. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven male sheep, seven male lambs and seven male goats. These animals were an offering to remove the sin of the people and the kingdom of Judah. And this offering made the Temple ready for service to God. King Hezekiah commanded the priests to offer these animals on the Lord’s altar. The priests were from the family of Aaron. ²² So the priests killed the bulls. Then they sprinkled the bulls’ blood on the altar. They killed the male sheep and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they killed the lambs. And they sprinkled the lambs’ blood on the altar. ²³ Then the priests brought the male goats before the king and the people there. The goats were for the sin offering. The king and the people put their hands on the goats. ²⁴ Then the priests killed the goats. They made a sin offering with the goats’ blood on the altar. They did this to remove the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to the Lord. The king had said that the burnt offering and sin offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ King Hezekiah put the Levites in the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres. He did this as David, Gad and Nathan had commanded. (Gad was the king’s seer, and Nathan was a prophet.) This command came from the Lord through his prophets. ²⁶ So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments of music. And the priests stood ready with their trumpets.

²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the singing to the Lord also began. The trumpets were blown. And the musical instruments of David king of Israel were played. ²⁸ All the people worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpet players blew their trumpets. They did this until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ When the sacrifices were finished, King Hezekiah and everyone with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰ King Hezekiah and his officers ordered the Levites to praise the Lord. They were to use the words David and Asaph the seer used. They praised God with joy. And they bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “Now you people of Judah have given yourselves to the Lord. Come near to the Temple of the Lord. Bring sacrifices and offerings to show thanks to the Lord.” So the people brought sacrifices and offerings to show thanks to the Lord. Anyone who wanted to also brought burnt offerings. ³² For burnt offerings they brought a total of 70 bulls, 100 male sheep and 200 lambs. All these animals were sacrificed as burnt offerings to the Lord. ³³ The offerings made holy for the Lord totaled 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep and goats. ³⁴ There were not enough priests to skin all the animals for the burnt offerings. So their relatives the Levites helped them. They helped until the work was finished and other priests could be made holy for the Lord’s service. The Levites had been more careful to make themselves holy for the Lord’s service than the priests. ³⁵ There were many burnt offerings. With them were the fat of fellowship offerings and drink offerings. So the service in the Temple of the Lord began again. ³⁶ And Hezekiah and the people were very happy. They were happy that God had made it happen so quickly for his people.