King Jotham of Judah

(2 Chronicles 27.1-9)

³² Jotham son of Azariah^[a] became king of Judah in the second year of Pekah's rule in Israel. ³³ Jotham was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled 16 years from Jerusalem. His mother Jerusha was the daughter of Zadok.

³⁴ Jotham followed the example of his father by obeying the Lord and doing right. ³⁵ It was Jotham who rebuilt the Upper Gate that led into the court around the Lord's temple. But the local shrines were not destroyed, and they were still used as places for offering sacrifices.

³⁶ Everything else Jotham did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ³⁷ During his rule, the Lord let King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel start attacking Judah. ³⁸ Jotham died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Ahaz became king.

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King Jotham of Judah

(2 Kings 15.32-38)

27 Jotham was 25 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years. Jerushah his mother was the daughter of Zadok.

² Jotham obeyed the Lord and did right. He followed the example of his father Uzziah, except he never burned incense in the temple as his father had done. But the people of Judah kept sinning against the Lord.

³ Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple and did a lot of work to repair the wall near Mount Ophel. ⁴ He built towns in the mountains of Judah and built fortresses and defense towers in the forests.

⁵ During his rule he attacked and defeated the Ammonites. Then every year for the next three years, he forced them to pay 3.4 tons of silver, 1,000 tons of wheat, and 1,000 tons of barley.

⁶ Jotham remained faithful to the Lord his God and became a very powerful king.

⁷ Everything else Jotham did while he was king, including the wars he fought, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

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King Ahaz of Judah

(2 Chronicles 28.1-27)

16 Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah in the seventeenth year of Pekah's rule in Israel. ² He was 20 years old at the time, and he ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years.

Ahaz wasn't like his ancestor David. Instead, he disobeyed the Lord ^3 (A) and was even more sinful than the kings of Israel. He sacrificed his own son, which was a disgusting custom of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices at the local shrines, as well as on every hill and in the shade of large trees.

^5-6 (B) While Ahaz was ruling Judah, the king of Edom recaptured the town of Elath from Judah and forced out the people of Judah. Edomites^[a] then moved into Elath, and they still live there.

About the same time, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel marched to Jerusalem and attacked, but they could not capture it.

⁷ Ahaz sent a message to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria that said, “Your Majesty, King Rezin and King Pekah are attacking me, your loyal servant. Please come and rescue me.” ⁸ Along with the message, Ahaz sent silver and gold from the Lord's temple and from the palace treasury as a gift for the Assyrian king.

⁹ As soon as Tiglath Pileser received the message, he and his troops marched to Syria. He captured the capital city of Damascus, then he took the people living there to the town of Kir as prisoners and killed King Rezin.^[b]

¹⁰ Later, Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser. And while Ahaz was there, he saw an altar and sent a model of it back to Uriah the priest, along with the plans for building one. ¹¹ Uriah followed the plans and built an altar exactly like the one in Damascus, finishing it just before Ahaz came back.

¹² When Ahaz returned, he went to see the altar and to offer sacrifices on it. He walked up to the altar ¹³ and poured wine over it. Then he offered sacrifices to please the Lord, to give him thanks, and to ask for his blessings.^{[c] 14 (C)} After that, he had the bronze altar moved aside,^[d] so his new altar would be right in front of the Lord's temple. ¹⁵ He told Uriah the priest:

From now on, the morning and evening sacrifices as well as all gifts of grain and wine are to be offered on this altar. The sacrifices for the people and for the king must also be offered here. Sprinkle the blood from all the sacrifices on it, but leave the bronze altar for me to use for prayer and finding out what God wants me to do.

¹⁶ Uriah did everything Ahaz told him.

^17 (D) Ahaz also had the side panels and the small bowls taken off the movable stands in the Lord's temple. He had the large bronze bowl, called the Sea, removed from the bronze bulls on which it rested and had it placed on a stand made of stone. ¹⁸ He took down the special tent that was used for worship on the Sabbath^[e] and closed up the private entrance that the kings of Judah used for going into the temple. He did all these things to please Tiglath Pileser.

¹⁹ Everything else Ahaz did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ^20 (E) Ahaz died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem,^[f] and his son Hezekiah became king.

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King Ahaz of Judah

(2 Kings 16.1-4)

28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years.

Ahaz was nothing like his ancestor David. Ahaz disobeyed the Lord ² and was as sinful as the kings of Israel. He made idols of the god Baal, ³ and he offered sacrifices in Hinnom Valley. Worst of all, Ahaz sacrificed his own sons, which was a disgusting custom of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel. ⁴ Ahaz offered sacrifices at the local shrines,^[a] as well as on every hill and in the shade of large trees.

Syria and Israel Attack Judah

(2 Kings 16.5,6)

^5-6 (A) Ahaz and the people of Judah sinned and turned away from the Lord, the God their ancestors had worshiped. So the Lord punished them by letting their enemies defeat them.

The king of Syria attacked Judah and took many of its people to Damascus as prisoners. King Pekah^[b] of Israel later defeated Judah and killed 120,000 of its bravest soldiers in one day. ⁷ During that battle, an Israelite soldier named Zichri killed three men from Judah: Maaseiah the king's son; Azrikam, the official in charge of the palace; and Elkanah, the king's second in command. ⁸ The Israelite troops captured 200,000 women and children and took them back to their capital city of Samaria, along with a large amount of their possessions. They did these things even though the people of Judah were their own relatives.

Oded the Prophet Condemns Israel

⁹ Oded lived in Samaria and was one of the Lord's prophets. He met Israel's army on their way back from Judah and said to them:

The Lord God of your ancestors let you defeat Judah's army only because he was angry with them. But you should not have been so cruel! ¹⁰ If you make slaves of the people of Judah and Jerusalem, you will be as guilty as they are of sinning against the Lord.

¹¹ Send these prisoners back home—they are your own relatives. If you don't, the Lord will punish you in his anger.

¹² About the same time, four of Israel's leaders arrived. They were Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai. They agreed with Oded that the Israelite troops were wrong, ¹³ and they said:

If you bring these prisoners into Samaria, that will be one more thing we've done to sin against the Lord. And he is already angry enough with us.

¹⁴ So in front of the leaders and the crowd, the troops handed over their prisoners and the property they had taken from Judah. ¹⁵ The four leaders took some of the stolen clothes and gave them to the prisoners who needed something to wear. They later gave them all a new change of clothes and shoes, then fixed them something to eat and drink, and cleaned their wounds with olive oil. They gave donkeys to those who were too weak to walk, and led all of them back to Jericho, the city known for its palm trees. The leaders then returned to Samaria.

Ahaz Asks the King of Assyria for Help

(2 Kings 16.7-9)

^16-18 Some time later, the Edomites attacked the eastern part of Judah again and carried away prisoners. And at the same time, the Philistines raided towns in the western foothills and in the Southern Desert. They conquered the towns of Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, including the villages around them. Then some of the Philistines went to live in these places.

Ahaz sent a message to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria and begged for help. ¹⁹ But God was punishing Judah with these disasters, because Ahaz had disobeyed him and refused to stop Judah from sinning. ²⁰ So Tiglath Pileser came to Judah, but instead of helping, he made things worse. ²¹ Ahaz gave him gifts from the Lord's temple and the king's palace, as well as from the homes of Israel's other leaders. The Assyrian king still refused to help Ahaz.

The Final Sin of Ahaz and His Death

²² Even after all these terrible things happened to Ahaz, he sinned against the Lord even worse than before. ²³ He said to himself, “The Syrian gods must have helped their kings defeat me. Maybe if I offer sacrifices to those gods, they will help me.” That was the sin that finally led to the downfall of Ahaz, as well as to the destruction of Judah.

²⁴ Ahaz collected all the furnishings of the temple and smashed them to pieces. Then he locked the doors to the temple and set up altars to foreign gods on every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every city and town in Judah he built local shrines^[c] to worship foreign gods. All of this made the Lord God of his ancestors very angry.

²⁶ Everything else Ahaz did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ^27 (B) Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. His son Hezekiah then became king.

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King Hezekiah of Judah

(2 Chronicles 29.1,2; 31.1)

18 Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah in the third year of Hoshea's rule in Israel. ² Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled 29 years from Jerusalem. His mother Abi was the daughter of Zechariah.

³ Hezekiah obeyed the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done. ^4 (A) He destroyed the local shrines, then tore down the images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah. He also smashed the bronze snake Moses had made. The people had named it Nehushtan^[a] and had been offering sacrifices to it.

⁵ Hezekiah trusted the Lord God of Israel. No other king of Judah was like Hezekiah, either before or after him. ⁶ He was completely faithful to the Lord and obeyed the laws the Lord had given to Moses for the people. ⁷ The Lord helped Hezekiah, so he was successful in everything he did. He even rebelled against the king of Assyria, refusing to be his servant. ⁸ Hezekiah defeated the Philistine towns as far away as Gaza—from the smallest towns to the large, walled cities.

⁹ During the fourth year of Hezekiah's rule, which was the seventh year of Hoshea's rule in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria led his troops to Samaria, the capital city of Israel. They attacked ¹⁰ and captured it three years later,^[b] in the sixth year of Hezekiah's rule and the ninth year of Hoshea's rule. ¹¹ The king of Assyria^[c] took the Israelites away as prisoners; he forced some of them to live in the town of Halah, others to live near the Habor River in the territory of Gozan, and still others to live in towns where the Median people lived. ¹² All of that happened because the people of Israel had not obeyed the Lord their God. They rejected the solemn agreement he had made with them, and they ignored everything that the Lord's servant Moses had told them.

King Sennacherib of Assyria Invades Judah

(2 Chronicles 32.1-19; Isaiah 36.1-22)

^13 (B) In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's rule in Judah, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the country and captured every walled city,^[d] except Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Hezekiah sent this message to Sennacherib, who was in the town of Lachish: “I know I am guilty of rebellion. But I will pay you whatever you want, if you stop your attack.”

Sennacherib told Hezekiah to pay ten tons of silver and one ton of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah collected all the silver from the Lord's temple and the royal treasury. ¹⁶ He even stripped the gold that he had used to cover the doors and doorposts^[e] in the temple. He gave it all to Sennacherib.

¹⁷ The king of Assyria ordered his three highest military officers to leave Lachish and take a large army to Jerusalem. When they arrived, the officers stood on the road near the cloth makers' shops along the canal from the upper pool. ¹⁸ They called out to Hezekiah, and three of his highest officials came out to meet them. One of them was Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the prime minister. The other two were Shebna, assistant to the prime minister, and Joah son of Asaph, keeper of the government records.

¹⁹ One of the Assyrian commanders told them:

I have a message for Hezekiah from the great king of Assyria. Ask Hezekiah why he feels so sure of himself. ²⁰ Does he think he can plan and win a war with nothing but words? Who is going to help him, now that he has turned against the king of Assyria? ²¹ Is he depending on Egypt and its king? That's the same as leaning on a broken stick, and it will go right through his hand.

²² Is Hezekiah now depending on the Lord your God? Didn't Hezekiah tear down all except one of the Lord's altars and places of worship?^[f] Didn't he tell the people of Jerusalem and Judah to worship at that one place?

²³ The king of Assyria wants to make a bet with you people. He will give you 2,000 horses, if you have enough troops to ride them. ²⁴ How could you even defeat our lowest ranking officer, when you have to depend on Egypt for chariots and cavalry? ²⁵ Don't forget that it was the Lord who sent me here with orders to destroy your nation!

²⁶ Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, “Sir, we don't want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.”

²⁷ The Assyrian army commander answered, “My king sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you leaders. These people will soon have to eat their own body waste and drink their own urine! And so will the three of you.”

²⁸ Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted in Hebrew:

Listen to what the great king of Assyria says! ²⁹ Don't be fooled by Hezekiah. He can't save you. ³⁰ Don't trust him when he tells you that the Lord will protect you from the king of Assyria. ³¹ Stop listening to Hezekiah! Pay attention to my king. Surrender to him. He will let you keep your own vineyards, fig trees, and cisterns ³² for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards, raise your own grain, and have plenty of olive oil and honey. Believe me, you won't starve there.

Hezekiah claims the Lord will save you. But don't be fooled by him. ³³ Were any other gods able to defend their land against the king of Assyria? ³⁴ What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? What about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Were the gods of Samaria able to protect their land against the Assyrian forces? ³⁵ None of these gods kept their people safe from the king of Assyria. Do you think the Lord your God can do any better?

^36-37 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah had been warned by King Hezekiah not to answer the Assyrian commander. So they tore their clothes in sorrow and reported to Hezekiah everything the commander had said.

Hezekiah Asks Isaiah the Prophet for Advice

(Isaiah 37.1-13)

19 As soon as Hezekiah heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the temple of the Lord. ² He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell the prophet Isaiah:

³ These are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born. ⁴ Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.

⁵ When these leaders went to Isaiah, ⁶ he told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah:

I am the Lord. Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria. ⁷ I will upset him with rumors about what's happening in his own country. He will go back, and there I will make him die a violent death.

⁸ Meanwhile, the commander of the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the town of Lachish and was now attacking Libnah. So he went there.

⁹ About this same time the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia^[g] was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:

¹⁰ Don't trust your God or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me. ¹¹ You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped out other nations. What makes you feel so safe? ¹² The Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and everyone from Eden who lived in Telassar. What good did their gods do them? ¹³ The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah have all disappeared.

Hezekiah Prays

(Isaiah 37.14-20)

¹⁴ After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see. ^15 (C) He prayed:

Lord God of Israel, your throne is above the winged creatures.^[h] You created the heavens and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of this world. ¹⁶ But just look how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.

¹⁷ It is true, our Lord, that Assyrian kings have turned nations into deserts. ¹⁸ They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshiped. ¹⁹ But you are our Lord and our God! We ask you to keep us safe from the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth will know that you are the only God.

The Lord's Answer to Hezekiah

(Isaiah 37.21-35)

²⁰ Isaiah went to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of Israel had said:

Hezekiah, I heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria. ²¹ Now this is what I say to that king:

²⁹ Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. ³⁰ Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. ³¹ I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.

³² I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. ³³ As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. ³⁴ I will protect it for myself and for my servant David.

The Death of King Sennacherib

(Isaiah 37.36-38)

^35 (D) That same night the Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them. And so the next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. ³⁶ After this King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. ³⁷ One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king.^[k]

Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies

(2 Chronicles 32.24-26; Isaiah 38.1-8,21,22)

20 About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. Isaiah the prophet went in and told him, “The Lord says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, so you had better start doing what needs to be done.”

² Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, ³ “Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” After this, he cried bitterly.

⁴ Before Isaiah got to the middle court of the palace, ⁵ the Lord sent him back to Hezekiah with this message:

Hezekiah, you are the ruler of my people, and I am the Lord God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will heal you, so that three days from now you will be able to worship in my temple. ⁶ I will let you live 15 years more, while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city as an honor to me and to my servant David.

⁷ Then Isaiah said to the king's servants, “Bring some mashed figs and place them on the king's open sore. He will then get well.”

⁸ Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “Can you prove that the Lord will heal me, so that I can worship in his temple in three days?”

⁹ Isaiah replied, “The Lord will prove to you that he will keep his promise. Will the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway go forward ten steps or back ten steps?”^[l]

¹⁰ “It's normal for the sun to go forward,” Hezekiah answered. “But how can it go back?”

¹¹ Isaiah prayed, and the Lord made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway built for King Ahaz.^[m]

The Lord Is Still with Hezekiah

(Isaiah 39.1-8)

¹² Merodach^[n] Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia.^[o] And when he learned that Hezekiah had been sick, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him. ¹³ Hezekiah welcomed^[p] the messengers and showed them all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oils that were in his storehouse. He even showed them where he kept his weapons. Nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom was kept hidden from them.

¹⁴ Isaiah asked Hezekiah, “Where did these men come from? What did they want?”

“They came all the way from Babylonia,” Hezekiah answered.

¹⁵ “What did you show them?” Isaiah asked.

Hezekiah answered, “I showed them everything in my kingdom.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah told Hezekiah:

I have a message for you from the Lord. ^17 (E) One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The Lord has promised that nothing will be left. ^18 (F) Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king's palace.

¹⁹ Hezekiah thought, “At least our nation will be at peace for a while.” So he told Isaiah, “The message you brought me from the Lord is good.”

Hezekiah Dies

(2 Chronicles 32.32,33)

²⁰ Everything else Hezekiah did while he was king, including his brave deeds and how he made the upper pool and tunnel bring water into Jerusalem, is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ²¹ Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became king.

King Hezekiah of Judah

(2 Kings 18.1-3)

29 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled 29 years from Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. ² Hezekiah obeyed the Lord by doing right, just as his ancestor David had done.

The Temple Is Purified

³ In the first month^[a] of the first year of Hezekiah's rule, he unlocked the doors to the Lord's temple and had them repaired.^{[b] 4} Then he called the priests and Levites to the east courtyard of the temple ⁵ and said:

It's time to purify the temple of the Lord God of our ancestors. You Levites must first go through the ceremony to make yourselves clean, then go into the temple and bring out everything that is unclean and unacceptable to the Lord. ⁶ Some of our ancestors were unfaithful and disobeyed the Lord our God. Not only did they turn their backs on the Lord, but they also completely ignored his temple. ⁷ They locked the doors, then let the lamps go out and stopped burning incense and offering sacrifices to him. ⁸ The Lord became terribly angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and everyone was shocked and horrified at what he did to punish them. Not only were ⁹ our ancestors killed in battle, but our own children and wives were taken captive.

¹⁰ So I have decided to renew our agreement with the Lord God of Israel. Maybe then he will stop being so angry with us. ¹¹ Let's not waste any time, my friends. You are the ones who were chosen to be the Lord's priests and to offer him sacrifices.

^12-14 When Hezekiah finished talking, the following Levite leaders went to work:

Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohath clan; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merari clan; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershon clan; Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphan clan; Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaph clan; Jehuel and Shimei from the Heman clan; Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthun clan.

¹⁵ These leaders gathered together the rest of the Levites, and they all went through the ceremony to make themselves clean. Then they began to purify the temple according to the Law of the Lord, just as Hezekiah had commanded.

¹⁶ The priests went into the temple and carried out everything that was unclean. They put these things in the courtyard, and from there, the Levites carried them outside the city to Kidron Valley.

¹⁷ The priests and Levites began their work on the first day of the first month.^[c] It took them one week to purify the courtyards of the temple and another week to purify the temple. So on the sixteenth day of that same month ¹⁸ they went back to Hezekiah and said:

Your Majesty, we have finished our work. The entire temple is now pure again, and so is the altar and its utensils, as well as the table for the sacred loaves of bread and its utensils. ¹⁹ And we have brought back all the things that King Ahaz took from the temple during the time he was unfaithful to God. We purified them and put them back in front of the altar.

Worship in the Temple

²⁰ At once, Hezekiah called together the officials of Jerusalem, and they went to the temple. ²¹ They brought with them seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven goats^[d] as sacrifices to take away the sins of Hezekiah's family and of the people of Judah, as well as to purify the temple. Hezekiah told the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to sacrifice these animals on the altar.

²² The priests killed the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, then splattered the blood on the altar. ²³ They took the goats to Hezekiah and the worshipers, and they laid their hands on the animals. ²⁴ The priests then killed the goats and splattered the blood on the altar as a sacrifice to take away the sins of everyone in Israel, because Hezekiah had commanded that these sacrifices be made for all the people of Israel.

²⁵ Next, Hezekiah assigned the Levites to their places in the temple. He gave them cymbals, harps, and other stringed instruments, according to the instructions that the Lord had given King David and the two prophets, Gad and Nathan. ^26 (A) The Levites were ready to play the instruments that had belonged to David; the priests were ready to blow the trumpets.

²⁷ As soon as Hezekiah gave the signal for the sacrifices to be burned on the altar, the musicians began singing praises to the Lord and playing their instruments, ²⁸ and everyone worshiped the Lord. This continued until the last animal was sacrificed.

²⁹ After that, Hezekiah and the crowd of worshipers bowed down and worshiped the Lord. ³⁰ Then Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing the songs of praise that David and Asaph the prophet had written. And so they bowed down and joyfully sang praises to the Lord.

³¹ Hezekiah said to the crowd, “Now that you are once again acceptable to the Lord, bring sacrifices and offerings to give him thanks.”

The people did this, and some of them voluntarily brought animals to be offered as sacrifices. ³² Seventy bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs were brought as sacrifices to please the Lord;^{[e] 33} 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep were brought as sacrifices to ask the Lord's blessing.^{[f] 34} There were not enough priests to skin all these animals, because many of the priests had not taken the time to go through the ceremony to make themselves clean. However, since all the Levites had made themselves clean, they helped the priests until the last animal was skinned. ³⁵ Besides all the sacrifices that were burned on the altar, the fat from the other animal sacrifices was burned, and the offerings of wine were poured over the altar.

So the temple was once again used for worshiping the Lord. ³⁶ Hezekiah and the people of Judah celebrated, because God had helped them make this happen so quickly.

Hezekiah Prepares To Celebrate Passover

30 ^1-4 (B) Passover wasn't celebrated in the first month,^[g] which was the usual time, because many of the priests were still unclean and unacceptable to serve, and because not everyone in Judah had come to Jerusalem for the festival. So Hezekiah, his officials, and the people agreed to celebrate Passover in the second month.^[h]

Hezekiah sent a message to everyone in Israel and Judah, including those in the territories of Ephraim and West Manasseh, inviting them to the temple in Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover in honor of the Lord God of Israel. ⁵ Everyone from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north was invited. This was the largest crowd of people that had ever celebrated Passover, according to the official records.

⁶ Hezekiah's messengers went everywhere in Israel and Judah with the following letter:

People of Israel, now that you have survived the invasion of the Assyrian kings,^[i] it's time for you to turn back to the Lord God our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped. If you do this, he will stop being angry. ⁷ Don't follow the example of your ancestors and your Israelite relatives in the north. They were unfaithful to the Lord, and he punished them horribly. ⁸ Don't be stubborn like your ancestors. Decide now to obey the Lord our God! Come to Jerusalem and worship him in the temple that will belong to him forever. Then he will stop being angry, ⁹ and the enemies that have captured your families will show pity and send them back home. The Lord God is kind and merciful, and if you turn back to him, he will no longer turn his back on you.

¹⁰ The messengers went to every town in Ephraim and West Manasseh as far north as the territory of Zebulun, but people laughed and insulted them. ¹¹ Only a few people from the tribes of Asher, West Manasseh, and Zebulun were humble and went to Jerusalem. ¹² God also made everyone in Judah eager to do what Hezekiah and his officials had commanded.

Passover Is Celebrated

¹³ In the second month,^[j] a large crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread.^{[k] 14} They took all the foreign altars and incense altars in Jerusalem and threw them into Kidron Valley.

^15-17 Then, on the fourteenth day of that same month, the Levites began killing the lambs for Passover, because many of the worshipers were unclean and were not allowed to kill their own lambs. Meanwhile, some of the priests and Levites felt ashamed because they had not gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean. They immediately went through that ceremony and went to the temple, where they offered sacrifices to please the Lord.^[l] Then the priests and Levites took their positions, according to the Law of Moses, the servant of God.

As the Levites killed the lambs, they handed some of the blood to the priests, who splattered it on the altar.

^18-19 Most of the people that came from Ephraim, West Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean, but they ignored God's Law and ate the Passover lambs anyway. Hezekiah found out what they had done and prayed, “Lord God, these people are unclean according to the laws of holiness. But they are worshiping you, just as their ancestors did. So, please be kind and forgive them.” ²⁰ The Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer and did not punish them.

²¹ The worshipers in Jerusalem were very happy and celebrated the Festival for seven days. The Levites and priests sang praises to the Lord every day and played their instruments. ²² Hezekiah thanked the Levites for doing such a good job, leading the celebration.

The worshipers celebrated for seven days by offering sacrifices, by eating the sacred meals, and by praising the Lord God of their ancestors. ²³ Everyone was so excited that they agreed to celebrate seven more days.

²⁴ So Hezekiah gave the people 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to be offered as sacrifices and to be used as food for the sacred meals. His officials gave 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep, and many more priests agreed to go through the ceremony to make themselves clean. ²⁵ Everyone was very happy, including those from Judah and Israel, the priests and Levites, and the foreigners living in Judah and Israel. ²⁶ It was the biggest celebration in Jerusalem since the days of King Solomon, the son of David. ²⁷ The priests and Levites asked God to bless the people, and from his home in heaven, he did.

The People Destroy the Local Shrines

(2 Kings 18.4)

31 After the Festival, the people went to every town in Judah and smashed the stone images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred poles^[m] for worshiping the goddess Asherah. They destroyed all the local shrines^[n] and foreign altars in Judah, as well as those in the territories of Benjamin, Ephraim, and West Manasseh. Then everyone went home.

Offerings for the Priests and Levites

² Hezekiah divided the priests and Levites into groups, according to their duties. Then he assigned them the responsibilities of offering sacrifices to please the Lord^[o] and sacrifices to ask his blessing.^[p] He also appointed people to serve at the temple and to sing praises at the temple gates. ^3 (C) Hezekiah provided animals from his own herds and flocks to use for the morning and evening sacrifices, as well as for the sacrifices during the Sabbath celebrations, the New Moon Festivals, and the other religious feasts required by the Law of the Lord.

^4 (D) He told the people of Jerusalem to bring the offerings that were to be given to the priests and Levites, so that they would have time to serve the Lord with their work. ⁵ As soon as the people heard what the king wanted, they brought a tenth of everything they owned, including their best grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and other crops. ⁶ The people from the other towns of Judah brought a tenth of their herds and flocks, as well as a tenth of anything they had dedicated to the Lord. ⁷ The people started bringing their offerings to Jerusalem in the third month,^[q] and the last ones arrived four months later. ⁸ When Hezekiah and his officials saw these offerings, they thanked the Lord and the people.

⁹ Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the large amount of offerings. ¹⁰ The high priest at the time was Azariah, a descendant of Zadok, and he replied, “Ever since the people have been bringing us their offerings, we have had more than enough food and supplies. The Lord has certainly blessed his people. Look at how much is left over!”

¹¹ So the king gave orders for storerooms to be built in the temple, and when they were completed, ^12-13 all the extra offerings were taken there. Hezekiah and Azariah then appointed Conaniah the Levite to be in charge of these storerooms. His brother Shimei was his assistant, and the following Levites worked with them: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah. ¹⁴ Kore son of Imnah was assigned to guard the East Gate, and he was put in charge of receiving the offerings voluntarily given to God and of dividing them among the priests and Levites. ^15-16 He had six assistants who were responsible for seeing that all the priests in the other towns of Judah also got their share of these offerings. They were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah.

Every priest and every Levite over 30^[r] years old who worked daily in the temple received part of these offerings, according to their duties. ¹⁷ The priests were listed in the official records by clans, and the Levites 20 years old and older were listed by their duties. ¹⁸ The official records also included their wives and children, because they had also been faithful in keeping themselves clean and acceptable to serve the Lord.

¹⁹ Hezekiah also appointed other men to take food and supplies to the priests and Levites whose homes were in the pastureland around the towns of Judah. But the priests had to be descendants of Aaron, and the Levites had to be listed in the official records.

^20-21 Everything Hezekiah did while he was king of Judah, including what he did for the temple in Jerusalem, was right and good. He was a successful king, because he obeyed the Lord God with all his heart.

King Sennacherib of Assyria Invades Judah

(2 Kings 18.13-37; Isaiah 36.1-22)

32 After King Hezekiah had faithfully obeyed the Lord's instructions by doing these things, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah. He attacked the fortified cities and thought he would capture every one of them.

² As soon as Hezekiah learned that Sennacherib was planning to attack Jerusalem, ^3-4 he and his officials worked out a plan to cut off the supply of water outside the city, so that the Assyrians would have no water when they came to attack. The officials got together a large work force that stopped up the springs and streams near Jerusalem.

⁵ Hezekiah's workers also repaired the broken sections of the city wall. Then they built defense towers and an outer wall to help protect the one already there. The landfill on the east side of David's City was also strengthened.

He gave orders to make a large supply of weapons and shields, ⁶ and he appointed army commanders over the troops. Then he gathered the troops together in the open area in front of the city gate and said to them:

⁷ Be brave and confident! There's no reason to be afraid of King Sennacherib and his powerful army. We are much more powerful, ⁸ because the Lord our God fights on our side. The Assyrians must rely on human power alone.

These words encouraged the army of Judah.

⁹ When Sennacherib and his troops were camped at the town of Lachish, he sent a message to Hezekiah and the people in Jerusalem. It said:

¹⁰ I am King Sennacherib of Assyria, and I have Jerusalem surrounded. Do you think you can survive my attack? ¹¹ Hezekiah your king is telling you that the Lord your God will save you from me. But he is lying, and you'll die of hunger and thirst. ¹² Didn't Hezekiah tear down all except one of the Lord's altars and places of worship?^[s] And didn't he tell you people of Jerusalem and Judah to worship at that one place?

¹³ You've heard what my ancestors and I have done to other nations. Were the gods of those nations able to defend their land against us? ¹⁴ None of those gods kept their people safe from the kings of Assyria. Do you really think your God can do any better? ¹⁵ Don't be fooled by Hezekiah! No god of any nation has ever been able to stand up to Assyria. Believe me, your God cannot keep you safe!

¹⁶ The Assyrian officials said terrible things about the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ Sennacherib's letter even made fun of the Lord. It said, “The gods of other nations could not save their people from Assyria's army, and neither will the God that Hezekiah worships.” ¹⁸ The officials said all these things in Hebrew, so that everyone listening from the city wall would understand and be terrified and surrender. ¹⁹ The officials talked about the Lord God as if he were nothing but an ordinary god or an idol that someone had made.

The Death of King Sennacherib

(2 Kings 19.14-19,35-37; Isaiah 37.14-20; 37.36-38)

²⁰ Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz begged the Lord for help, ²¹ and he sent an angel that killed every soldier and commander in the Assyrian camp.

Sennacherib returned to Assyria, completely disgraced. Then one day he went into the temple of his god where some of his sons killed him.

²² The Lord rescued Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from Sennacherib and also protected them from other enemies. ²³ People brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord and expensive gifts for Hezekiah, and from that day on, every nation on earth respected Hezekiah.

Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies

(2 Kings 20.1-11; Isaiah 38.1-8)

²⁴ About this same time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. He prayed, and the Lord gave him a sign that he would recover. ²⁵ But Hezekiah was so proud that he refused to thank the Lord for everything he had done for him. This made the Lord angry, and he punished Hezekiah and the people of Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ Hezekiah and the people later felt sorry and asked the Lord to forgive them. So the Lord did not punish them as long as Hezekiah was king.

Hezekiah's Wealth

(2 Kings 20.12-19; Isaiah 39.1-8)

²⁷ Hezekiah was very rich, and everyone respected him. He built special rooms to store the silver, the gold, the precious stones and spices, the shields, and the other valuable possessions. ²⁸ Storehouses were also built for his supply of grain, wine, and olive oil; barns were built for his cattle, and pens were put up for his sheep. ²⁹ God made Hezekiah extremely rich, so he bought even more sheep, goats, and cattle. And he built towns where he could keep all these animals.

³⁰ It was Hezekiah who built a tunnel that carried the water from Gihon Spring into the city of Jerusalem. In fact, everything he did was successful! ³¹ Even when the leaders of Babylonia sent messengers to ask Hezekiah about the sign God had given him, God let Hezekiah give his own answer to test him and to see if he would remain faithful.

Hezekiah Dies

(2 Kings 20.20,21)

³² Everything else Hezekiah did while he was king, including how faithful he was to the Lord, is included in the records kept by Isaiah the prophet. These are written in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³ When Hezekiah died, he was buried in the section of the royal tombs that was reserved for the most respected kings,^[t] and everyone in Judah and Jerusalem honored him. His son Manasseh then became king.