Bible in 90 Days

¹⁶ Jehoiada made a promise to the Lord on behalf of the king and his people that they would be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷ Then all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal’s altars and his statues and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.

¹⁸ Next, Jehoiada appointed officials to be in charge of the Lord’s temple under the direction of the priests and Levites.^[a] (David had arranged them in divisions for the Lord’s temple. They were appointed to sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord as it is written in Moses’ Teachings. They made these offerings with joy and singing as David had directed.) ¹⁹ Jehoiada appointed gatekeepers for the gates of the Lord’s temple so that no one who was unclean ^[b] for any reason could enter.

²⁰ He took the company commanders, the nobles, the people’s governors, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They went through Upper Gate to the royal palace and seated the king on the royal throne. The nobles, the governors of the people, and ²¹ all the people of the land were celebrating. But the city was quiet because they had killed Athaliah with a sword.

King Joash of Judah^(A)

24 Joash ^[c] was 7 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ² Joash did what the Lord considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada lived.

³ Jehoiada got Joash two wives, and Joash had sons and daughters.

⁴ After this, Joash wanted to renovate the Lord’s temple. ⁵ He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go to the cities of Judah, and collect money throughout Israel to repair the temple of your God every year. Do it immediately!” But the Levites didn’t do it immediately.

⁶ So the king called for the chief priest Jehoiada and asked him, “Why didn’t you require the Levites to bring the contributions from Judah and Jerusalem? The Lord’s servant Moses and the assembly had required Israel to give contributions for the use of the tent containing the words of God’s promise.” ⁷ (The sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into God’s temple and used all the holy things of the Lord’s temple ⌞to worship⌟ other gods—the Baals.)

⁸ The king issued an order, and they made a box and placed it outside the gate of the Lord’s temple. ⁹ Then they issued a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem that the contributions should be brought to the Lord. (In the desert the Lord’s servant Moses had required Israel to make contributions.) ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people were overjoyed. They brought the money and dropped it into the box until it was full. ¹¹ Whenever the Levites brought the box to the king’s officers and they saw a lot of money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would empty the box and put it back in its place. They would do this every day, so they collected a lot of money. ¹² The king and Jehoiada would give the money to the foremen who were working on the Lord’s temple, and they hired masons and carpenters to renovate the Lord’s temple. They also hired men who worked with iron and bronze to repair the Lord’s temple. ¹³ As the men worked, the project progressed under the foremen’s guidance. They restored God’s temple to its proper condition and reinforced it.

¹⁴ When they finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to make utensils for the Lord’s temple. They made dishes and gold and silver utensils for the service and for the offerings. As long as Jehoiada lived, they sacrificed burnt offerings in the Lord’s temple.

Joash’s Sin Leads to His Assassination^(B)

¹⁵ When Jehoiada was old and had lived out his years, he died. He was 130 years old when he died. ¹⁶ He was buried in the City of David with the kings because of the good he had done in Israel for God and the temple.

¹⁷ After he died, the officials of Judah bowed in front of the king with their faces touching the ground. Then the king listened to their advice. ¹⁸ They abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors and worshiped idols and the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. This offense of theirs brought God’s anger upon Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁹ The Lord sent them prophets to bring them back to himself. The prophets warned them, but they wouldn’t listen. ²⁰ God’s Spirit gave Zechariah, son of the priest Jehoiada, strength. Zechariah stood in front of the people and said to them, “This is what God says: Why are you breaking the Lord’s commands? You won’t prosper that way! The Lord has abandoned you because you have abandoned him.” ²¹ But they plotted against Zechariah, and by the king’s order they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ²² King Joash did not remember how kind Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, had been to him. Instead, he killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah died, he said, “May the Lord see ⌞this⌟ and get revenge!”

²³ At the end of the year, the Aramean army attacked Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the people’s leaders. The Arameans sent all the loot they took from Judah and Jerusalem to the king of Damascus. ²⁴ The Aramean army had come with a small number of men, but the Lord handed Joash’s large army over to them because Joash’s soldiers had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. So the Arameans carried out ⌞the Lord’s⌟ judgment on Joash. ²⁵ When the Arameans withdrew, they left him suffering from many wounds. His own officials plotted against him for murdering the son of the priest Jehoiada. They killed Joash in his bed. When he died, they buried him in the City of David, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. ²⁶ These were the men who conspired against him: Zabad, son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith. ²⁷ The record about his sons, the many divine revelations against him, and the rebuilding of God’s temple is in the notes made in the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

King Amaziah of Judah^(C)

25 Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem. ² He did what the Lord considered right, but he did not do it wholeheartedly. ³ As soon as he had firm control over the kingdom, he executed the officials who killed his father, the former king. ⁴ But he didn’t execute their children. He obeyed the Lord’s command written in the Book of Moses’ Teachings: “Parents must never be put to death for the crimes of their children, and children must never be put to death for the crimes of their parents. Each person must be put to death for his own crime.”

⁵ Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them by families to regiment and battalion commanders for all of Judah and Benjamin. He organized those who were at least 20 years old and found that he had 300,000 of the best men for the army, those who could handle a spear and a shield. ⁶ He also hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel for 7,500 pounds of silver.

⁷ But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, Israel’s army must not go with you, because the Lord isn’t with Israel. He’s not with these men from Ephraim. ⁸ If you go into battle with them, no matter how courageous you are, God will use the enemy to defeat you, because God has the power to help you or to defeat you.”

⁹ Amaziah asked the man of God, “What should I do about the 7,500 pounds of silver I gave the troops from Israel?”

The man of God answered, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”

¹⁰ Then Amaziah dismissed the troops that had come to him from Ephraim. But they became furious with Judah and returned home.

¹¹ Amaziah courageously led his troops. When he came to the Dead Sea region, he killed 10,000 men from Seir.^{[d] 12} The Judeans captured another 10,000 alive, took them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off the top of the cliff so that they were dismembered.

¹³ The troops that Amaziah sent back so that they couldn’t go with him into battle raided the towns in Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed 3,000 people and took a lot of goods.

King Amaziah’s Sin Leads to His Defeat^(D)

¹⁴ After Amaziah came back from defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down to them, and burned sacrifices to them. ¹⁵ The Lord became angry with Amaziah. He sent him a prophet who asked him, “Why do you dedicate your life to serving the gods of those people? Those gods couldn’t save their own people from you.”

¹⁶ As he was talking, the king asked him, “Did we make you an adviser to the king? Stop! Do you want me to have you killed?”

The prophet stopped. He said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you because you did this, but you refuse to listen to my advice.”

¹⁷ After getting advice ⌞from his advisers⌟, King Amaziah of Judah sent messengers to King Jehoash,^[e] son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu of Israel, to declare war on Israel.

¹⁸ King Jehoash of Israel sent this message to King Amaziah of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon. It said, ‘Let your daughter marry my son,’ but a wild animal from Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. ¹⁹ You say you defeated Edom, and now you’ve become arrogant enough to look for more fame. Stay home! Why must you invite disaster and your own defeat and take Judah with you?”

²⁰ But Amaziah wouldn’t listen. (God made this happen because he wanted to hand over the Judeans to Jehoash because they had sought help from Edom’s gods.) ²¹ So King Jehoash of Israel attacked, and King Amaziah of Judah met him in battle at Beth Shemesh in Judah. ²² Israel defeated the army of Judah, and the Judeans fled to their homes. ²³ King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah, son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah of Judah, at Beth Shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He tore down a 600-foot section of the wall around Jerusalem from Ephraim Gate to Corner Gate. ²⁴ ⌞He took⌟ all the gold, silver, and all the utensils he found in God’s temple with Obed Edom and in the royal palace treasury. He also took hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

²⁵ Joash’s son King Amaziah of Judah lived 15 years after the death of Jehoahaz’s son King Jehoash of Israel. ²⁶ Isn’t everything else about Amaziah, from beginning to end, written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷ After Amaziah turned away from the Lord, conspirators in Jerusalem plotted against him. Amaziah fled to Lachish, but they sent men to Lachish after him and killed him there. ²⁸ They brought him back by horse and buried him in the city of Judah with his ancestors.

King Uzziah of Judah^(E)

26 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ² Uzziah rebuilt Elath and returned it to Judah after King Amaziah lay down in death with his ancestors. ³ Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what the Lord considered right, as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He dedicated his life to serving God in the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. As long as he dedicated his life to serving the Lord, the Lord gave him success.

⁶ Uzziah went to wage war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. ⁷ God helped him when he attacked the Philistines, the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. ⁸ The Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah, and his fame spread to the border of Egypt because he became very powerful. ⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at Corner Wall, Valley Gate, and the Angle, and he reinforced them. ¹⁰ He built towers in the desert. He dug many cisterns because he had a lot of herds in the foothills and the plains. He had farmers and vineyard workers in the mountains and the fertile fields because he loved the soil.

¹¹ Uzziah had an army of professional soldiers. They were ready to go to war in their companies based on the number organized by the scribe Jeiel and the officer Maaseiah. They were commanded by Hananiah, one of the king’s officials. ¹² The total number of family heads among these warriors was 2,600. ¹³ Under them was an army of 307,500 soldiers. They were a powerful force that could support the king against the enemy. ¹⁴ For the entire army Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones for slings. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he made machines designed by inventive people. The machines were placed on the towers and corners to shoot arrows and hurl large stones.

King Uzziah Is Cursed with a Skin Disease^(F)

Uzziah’s fame spread far and wide because he had strong support until he became powerful. ¹⁶ But when he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God. He went into the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ The priest Azariah went in after him with 80 of the Lord’s courageous priests. ¹⁸ They opposed King Uzziah. They said to him, “Uzziah, you have no right to burn incense as an offering to the Lord. That right belongs to the priests, Aaron’s descendants, who have been given the holy task of burning incense. Get out of the holy place because you have been unfaithful. The Lord God will not honor you for this.”

¹⁹ Uzziah, who held an incense burner in his hand, became angry. While he was angry with the priests, a skin disease broke out on his forehead. This happened in front of the priests in the Lord’s temple as Uzziah was at the incense altar. ²⁰ When the chief priest Azariah and all the priests turned toward him, a skin disease was on his forehead. They rushed him away. Uzziah was in a hurry to get out because the Lord had inflicted him ⌞with the disease⌟.

²¹ King Uzziah had a skin disease until the day he died. Since he had a skin disease, he lived in a separate house and was barred from the Lord’s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the royal palace and governed the country.

²² Everything else about Uzziah, from beginning to end, is recorded by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. ²³ Uzziah lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in a field containing tombs that belonged to the kings. People said, “He had a skin disease.” His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

King Jotham of Judah^(G)

27 Jotham was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerushah, daughter of Zadok. ² He did what the Lord considered right, as his father Uzziah had done. But unlike his father, he didn’t ⌞illegally⌟ enter the Lord’s temple. Nevertheless, the people continued their corrupt ways.

³ Jotham built the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple and did extensive building of the wall at the Ophel. ⁴ He built cities in the hills of Judah, and he built forts and towers in the wooded areas. ⁵ He fought with the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites gave him 7,500 pounds of silver, 60,000 bushels of wheat, and 60,000 bushels of barley. The Ammonites gave him the same amount for two more years. ⁶ Jotham grew powerful because he was determined to live as the Lord his God wanted.

⁷ Everything else about Jotham—all his wars and his life—is written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸ He was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled for 16 years in Jerusalem. ⁹ Jotham lay down in death with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

King Ahaz of Judah^(H)

28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 26 years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done. ² He followed the example of the kings of Israel and even made metal idols for worshiping other gods—the Baals. ³ He burned sacrifices in the valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his son by burning him alive, one of the disgusting things done by the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. ⁴ He offered sacrifices and burned incense as an offering at the illegal worship sites, which were on hills and under every large tree.

⁵ So the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram, who defeated him, captured many prisoners, and brought them to Damascus. He also handed him over to the king of Israel, who decisively defeated him. ⁶ In one day Pekah, son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 soldiers in Judah because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. ⁷ Zichri, a fighting man from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, who was the king’s son, Azrikam, who was in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, who was the king’s second-in-command. ⁸ The Israelites captured 200,000 women, boys, and girls from their relatives ⌞the Judeans⌟. They also took a lot of goods from Judah and brought them to Samaria.

⁹ A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went to meet the army coming home to Samaria. He said to them, “The Lord God of your ancestors handed Judah over to you in his anger. You killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰ Now you intend to enslave the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem. But aren’t you also guilty of sinning against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Listen to me. Return these prisoners you have captured from your relatives, because the Lord is very angry with you.”

¹² Then Azariah, son of Jehohan, Berechiah, son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah, son of Shallum, and Amasa, son of Hadlai (some leaders of Ephraim) opposed those coming home from the army. ¹³ They said to the army, “Don’t bring the prisoners here. You’ll make us responsible for this sin against the Lord. Do you intend to add to all our sins? The Lord is very angry with Israel because we have already sinned.”

¹⁴ So the army left the prisoners and the loot in front of the leaders and the whole assembly. ¹⁵ Then the men who were mentioned by name took charge of the prisoners and gave clothes from the loot to all the prisoners who were naked. They provided clothes for them, gave them sandals, gave them something to eat and drink, and let them bathe. They put everyone who was exhausted on donkeys and brought them to Jericho (the City of Palms) near their own people. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶ At that time King Ahaz sent for help from the kings of Assyria. ¹⁷ The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and captured prisoners. ¹⁸ The Philistines had raided the foothills and the Negev in Judah. They captured and began living in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages. ¹⁹ The Lord humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel. Ahaz had spread sin throughout Judah and was unfaithful to the Lord.

²⁰ King Tillegath Pilneser of Assyria attacked Ahaz. Instead of strengthening Ahaz, Tillegath Pilneser made trouble for him. ²¹ Ahaz took some of the things from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the princes, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. But that didn’t help him. ²² When he had this trouble, King Ahaz became more unfaithful to the Lord. ²³ He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, the gods who had defeated him. He thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram are helping them. I’ll sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” But they ruined him and all Israel.

²⁴ Ahaz collected the utensils in God’s temple, cut them up, and closed the doors to the Lord’s temple. He made altars for himself on every corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵ And in each city of Judah, he made places of worship to sacrifice to other gods. So he made the Lord God of his ancestors angry.

²⁶ Everything else about him—everything from beginning to end—is written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ Ahaz lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem because they didn’t put him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

King Hezekiah Rededicates the Temple^(I)

29 Hezekiah began to rule as king when he was 25 years old. He ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. ² He did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done.

³ In the first month of his first year as king, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them. ⁴ He brought the priests and Levites together in the square on the east side ⌞of the temple⌟.

⁵ He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Perform the ceremonies to make the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors holy. Remove anything that has been corrupted from the holy place. ⁶ Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what the Lord our God considered evil. They deserted him. They turned away from the Lord’s tent ^[f] and turned their backs on him. ⁷ They also shut the doors of the ⌞temple’s⌟ entrance hall, extinguished the lamps, and didn’t burn incense or sacrifice burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ So the Lord was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He made them something that shocks and terrifies people and that people ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. ⁹ Our fathers were killed in battle, and our sons, daughters, and wives are prisoners because of this. ¹⁰ Now I intend to make a pledge to the Lord God of Israel so that he may turn his burning anger away from us. ¹¹ Don’t be negligent, my sons. The Lord has chosen you to stand in front of him, serve him, be his servants, and burn sacrifices.”

¹² So the Levites started to work.

¹⁵ These men gathered their relatives and performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they obeyed the king’s order from the Lord’s word and entered the temple to make it clean.^{[g] 16} The priests entered the Lord’s temple to make it clean. They carried into the courtyard every unclean thing that they found in the Lord’s temple. Then the Levites took the unclean items outside the city to the Kidron Brook. ¹⁷ They started on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day they went into the Lord’s entrance hall, and for eight days they performed the ceremonies to make the Lord’s temple holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸ Then they went to King Hezekiah. They said ⌞to him⌟, “We have made all of the Lord’s temple clean. This includes the altar for burnt offerings, all its utensils, the table for the rows of bread and all its utensils, ¹⁹ and all the utensils King Ahaz refused to use during his reign when he was unfaithful. We have restored them and made them holy. They are in front of the Lord’s altar.”

²⁰ Early in the morning Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city and went to the Lord’s temple. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as an offering for sin for the kingdom, the holy place, and Judah. Hezekiah told the priests, Aaron’s descendants, to sacrifice the animals on the Lord’s altar.

²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. After that, they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. ²³ Then they brought the male goats for the offering for sin in front of the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them. ²⁴ The priests slaughtered the goats and made their blood an offering for sin at the altar to make peace with the Lord for Israel. The king had said that the burnt offerings and offerings for sin should be for all Israel.

²⁵ He had the Levites stand in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres as David, the king’s seer ^[h] Gad, and the prophet Nathan had ordered. This command came from the Lord through his prophets. ²⁶ The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests had the trumpets. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah ordered the sacrificing of burnt offerings on the altar. When the burnt offerings started, the songs to the Lord started. These songs were accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of King David of Israel. ²⁸ The whole assembly bowed down with their faces touching the ground, singers began to sing, and the trumpets blew until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹ When the burnt offerings were finished, the king and everyone who was with him kneeled and bowed down. ³⁰ Then King Hezekiah and the leaders told the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and the seer Asaph. They joyfully sang praises, bowed down, and worshiped.

³¹ Hezekiah said, “You have dedicated your lives to the Lord. Come, bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord’s temple.”

The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings. ³² The burnt offerings brought by the assembly totaled 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All of these were burnt offerings to the Lord. ³³ The animals dedicated as holy sacrifices were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. ³⁴ But the priests needed more help to skin all the burnt offerings. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed and the priests could make themselves holy. The Levites were more diligent in making themselves holy than the priests were. ³⁵ There were many burnt offerings in addition to the fat of the fellowship offerings and wine offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the worship in the Lord’s temple was reestablished. ³⁶ Hezekiah and all the people were overjoyed because of what God had done for the people. Everything had happened so quickly.

Hezekiah Celebrates the Passover

30 Hezekiah sent a message to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. He invited them to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord God of Israel.

² The king, his officials, and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month. ³ They couldn’t celebrate it at the regular time because not enough priests had performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy and the people hadn’t gathered in Jerusalem. ⁴ The king and the whole assembly considered their plan to be the right thing to do. ⁵ So they decided to send an announcement throughout Israel from Beersheba to Dan. They summoned everyone to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord God of Israel. These people had not celebrated it in large numbers as the written instructions said they should.

⁶ Messengers took letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah. The king’s order said, “Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Then he will return to the few of you who escaped from the power of the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Don’t be like your ancestors and your relatives who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their ancestors. He made them something that shocks people, as you have seen. ⁸ Don’t be impossible to deal with like your ancestors. Reach out for the Lord. Come to his holy place that he made holy forever. Serve the Lord your God, and he will turn his burning anger away from you. ⁹ When you return to the Lord, your relatives and children will find compassion from those who captured them. They will return to this land. The Lord your God is merciful and compassionate. He will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”

¹⁰ So the messengers went from city to city in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun. But the people ridiculed them. ¹¹ However, some people from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² Also, God guided the people of Judah so that they united to carry out the command which the king and the leaders gave from the Lord’s word.

¹³ Many people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month. They formed a large assembly.

¹⁴ Then the people got rid of the ⌞idols’⌟ altars in Jerusalem. They got rid of all the altars for incense by dumping them in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁵ They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they brought burnt offerings to the Lord’s temple. ¹⁶ They stood in their regular places as instructed by Moses’ Teachings. (Moses was a man of God.) The priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites. ¹⁷ Many people in the assembly had not made themselves holy. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all who weren’t clean ^[i] and couldn’t make their lambs holy for the Lord.

¹⁸ Many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean. So they ate the Passover, but not in the way the written instructions said they should. Hezekiah prayed for them: “May the good Lord forgive ¹⁹ those who have their hearts set on dedicating their lives to serving God. May the Lord God of their ancestors do this for those who are not clean as required for the holy place.” ²⁰ The Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ So the Israelites in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. Each day the Levites and priests praised the Lord in song. They played the Lord’s instruments loudly. ²² Hezekiah spoke encouraging words to all the Levites who had the skills to serve the Lord. They ate the festival meals for seven days, sacrificed fellowship offerings, and confessed their sins to the Lord God of their ancestors.

²³ Then the whole assembly decided to celebrate the festival for seven more days. So they joyfully celebrated for seven more days. ²⁴ King Hezekiah of Judah provided 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep as sacrifices for the assembly. The leaders provided 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep for the assembly. So a large number of priests were able to perform the ceremonies to make themselves holy.

²⁵ The whole assembly from Judah, the priests, the Levites, the whole assembly from Israel, the foreigners who came from Israel, and those who lived in Judah rejoiced. ²⁶ The city of Jerusalem was filled with joy. Nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem since the days of King Solomon of Israel.

²⁷ Then the Levitical priests blessed the people. Their voices were heard, and their prayers went to God’s holy place in heaven.

Hezekiah Reforms Judah’s Worship

31 When this was over, all the Israelites who were there went to the cities in Judah. They crushed the sacred stones, cut down the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, and tore down the illegal places of worship and the altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. The Israelites destroyed all of these things. Then all the Israelites returned to their own cities. Each person went to his own property.

² Hezekiah assigned the priests and the Levites to divisions. Each priest or Levite was put in a division based on the service he performed: sacrificing burnt offerings, sacrificing fellowship offerings, serving, giving thanks, or praising within the gates of the Lord’s camp.

³ He set aside part of the king’s property for burnt offerings, the morning and evening offerings, burnt offerings on the weekly days of rest—holy days, the New Moon Festivals, and the annual festivals, as it is written in the Lord’s Teachings. ⁴ He told the people living in Jerusalem to give the priests and Levites the portions they were due so that they could devote themselves to the Lord’s Teachings. ⁵ As soon as the word spread, the Israelites brought plenty of offerings from the first of their produce: grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, honey, and every crop from the fields. They brought large quantities, a tenth of everything. ⁶ The people of Israel and Judah who were living in the cities of Judah brought a tenth of their cattle and sheep and a tenth of the holy things they had dedicated to the Lord their God. They piled these holy things in heaps. ⁷ In the third month they started piling them up, and in the seventh month they finished. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the leaders saw the heaps, they praised the Lord and his people Israel.

⁹ Hezekiah asked the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰ The chief priest Azariah from Zadok’s family said, “Since the people started to bring the offerings to the Lord’s temple, we have had all we wanted to eat and plenty to spare. The Lord has blessed his people, and there’s a lot left over.”

¹¹ Then Hezekiah told them to prepare storerooms in the Lord’s temple. After they had prepared them, ¹² they faithfully brought in the contributions, the offerings of one-tenth of the crops, and the gifts dedicated to God. The Levite Conaniah was in charge of these things, and his brother Shimei was his assistant. ¹³ King Hezekiah and Azariah, who was in charge of God’s temple, appointed Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah to serve under Conaniah and his brother Shimei. ¹⁴ Kore, son of Imnah the Levite, was the gatekeeper at East Gate and had to take care of the freewill offerings made to God. His responsibility was to distribute the offerings made to the Lord and the holy gifts dedicated to God. ¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah served under him in the cities belonging to the priests. They were to distribute the offerings faithfully to all their relatives, young and old, by their divisions. ¹⁶ They were appointed to distribute them to males who were at least three years old. The way they were enrolled in the genealogical records did not matter. The six men who served under Kore were to distribute the offerings to everyone who went to the Lord’s temple to perform the daily service that each division was responsible for. ¹⁷ They were to distribute offerings to the priests who were enrolled by families and to the Levites who were at least 20 years old. Distribution was based on the way they served in their divisions. ¹⁸ The priests and Levites were enrolled with their wives, sons, daughters, and other people who depended on them—the whole community. The priests and Levites had to be faithful in keeping themselves holy for the holy work. ¹⁹ Men were appointed to give a portion of the offerings to all the males in the priestly families and to everyone listed in the genealogies of the Levites. These men were Aaron’s descendants, priests who lived in the pasturelands of every Levite city.

²⁰ This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and right and true to the Lord his God. ²¹ Hezekiah incorporated Moses’ Teachings and commands into worship and dedicated his life to serving God. Whatever he did for the worship in God’s temple, he did wholeheartedly, and he succeeded.

God Saves Judah from the Assyrians^(J)

32 After everything Hezekiah had done so faithfully, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to invade Judah. He set up camp ⌞to attack⌟ the fortified cities. He intended to conquer them himself.

² When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to wage war against Jerusalem, ³ he, his officers, and his military staff made plans to stop the water from flowing out of the springs outside the city. They helped him do it. ⁴ A large crowd gathered as they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land. They said, “Why should the kings of Assyria find plenty of water?”

⁵ Hezekiah worked hard. He rebuilt all the broken sections of the wall, made the towers taller, built another wall outside ⌞the city wall⌟, strengthened the Millo ^[j] in the City of David, and made plenty of weapons and shields. ⁶ He appointed military commanders over the troops and gathered the commanders in the square by the city gate. He spoke these words of encouragement: ⁷ “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be frightened or terrified by the king of Assyria or the crowd with him. Someone greater is on our side. ⁸ The king of Assyria has human power on his side, but the Lord our God is on our side to help us and fight our battles.” So the people were encouraged by what King Hezekiah of Judah said.

⁹ After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria and all his royal forces were attacking Lachish, he sent his officers to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all of the people in Judah who were in Jerusalem to say: ¹⁰ “This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: Why are you so confident as you live in Jerusalem while it is blockaded? ¹¹ Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you and abandoning you to die from hunger and thirst when he says, ‘The Lord our God will rescue us from the king of Assyria?’ ¹² Isn’t this the same Hezekiah who got rid of the Lord’s places of worship and altars and told Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Worship and sacrifice at one altar?’ ¹³ Don’t you know what I and my predecessors have done to the people of all other countries? Were any of the gods of these other nations ever able to rescue their countries from me? ¹⁴ Were the gods of these nations able to rescue their people from my control? My predecessors claimed and destroyed those nations. Is your God able to rescue you from my control? ¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this. Don’t believe him. No god of any nation or kingdom could save his people from me or my ancestors. Certainly, your God will not rescue you from me!”

¹⁶ Sennacherib’s officers said more against the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ Sennacherib wrote letters cursing the Lord God of Israel. These letters said, “As the gods of the nations in other countries couldn’t rescue their people from me, Hezekiah’s God cannot rescue his people from me.” ¹⁸ Sennacherib’s officers shouted loudly in the Judean language to the troops who were on the wall of Jerusalem. They tried to frighten and terrify the troops so that they could capture the city. ¹⁹ They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the gods made by human hands and worshiped by the people in other countries.

²⁰ Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, prayed about this and called to heaven. ²¹ The Lord sent an angel who exterminated all the soldiers, officials, and commanders in the Assyrian king’s camp. Humiliated, Sennacherib returned to his own country. When he went into the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him with a sword. ²² So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people living in Jerusalem from King Sennacherib of Assyria and from everyone else. The Lord gave them peace with all their neighbors.

²³ Many people still went to Jerusalem to bring gifts to the Lord and expensive presents to King Hezekiah of Judah. From then on, he was considered important by all the nations.

Other Events in Hezekiah’s Life^(K)

²⁴ In those days Hezekiah became sick and was about to die. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. ²⁵ But Hezekiah was conceited, so he didn’t repay the Lord for his kindness. The Lord became angry with him, with Judah, and with Jerusalem. ²⁶ Hezekiah and the people living in Jerusalem humbled themselves when they realized they had become conceited. So the Lord didn’t vent his anger on them during Hezekiah’s time.

²⁷ Hezekiah became richer and was highly honored. He prepared storerooms for himself to hold silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuables. ²⁸ He made sheds to store his harvests of grain, new wine, and fresh olive oil, and he made barns for all his cattle and stalls for his flocks. ²⁹ He made cities for himself because he had many sheep and cattle. God had given him a lot of property. ³⁰ Hezekiah was the one who stopped the water from flowing from the upper outlet of Gihon. He channeled the water directly underground to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did.

³¹ When the leaders of Babylon sent ambassadors to ask him about the miraculous sign that had happened in the land, God left him. God did this to test him, to find out everything that was in Hezekiah’s heart.

³² Everything else about Hezekiah, including his devotion to God, is written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, and in the records of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³ Hezekiah lay down in death with his ancestors. He was buried in the upper tombs of David’s descendants. When Hezekiah died, all of Judah and the people in Jerusalem honored him. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

King Manasseh of Judah^(L)

33 Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 55 years in Jerusalem.

² He did what the Lord considered evil by copying the disgusting things done by the nations that the Lord had forced out of the Israelites’ way. ³ He rebuilt the illegal places of worship that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He set up altars dedicated to other gods—the Baals—and made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh, like Ahab, worshiped and served the entire army of heaven. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple, he built altars for the entire army of heaven. ⁶ He burned his son as a sacrifice in the valley of Ben Hinnom, consulted fortunetellers, cast evil spells, practiced witchcraft, and appointed ⌞royal⌟ mediums and psychics. He did many things that made the Lord furious. ⁷ Manasseh had a carved idol made. Then he set it up in God’s temple, where God had said to David and his son Solomon, “I have chosen this temple and Jerusalem from all the tribes of Israel. I will put my name here forever. ⁸ I will never again remove Israel from the land that I set aside for their ancestors if they will obey all the commands, all the teachings, the ordinances, and the regulations ⌞I gave⌟ through Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that they did more evil things than the nations that the Lord had destroyed when the Israelites arrived in the land.

¹⁰ When the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, they wouldn’t even pay attention. ¹¹ So the Lord made the army commanders of the king of Assyria invade Judah. They took Manasseh captive, put a hook in his nose, put him in bronze shackles, and brought him to Babylon.

¹² When he experienced this distress, he begged the Lord his God to be kind and humbled himself in front of the God of his ancestors. ¹³ He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord accepted his prayer and listened to his request. The Lord brought him back to his kingdom in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

¹⁴ After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon Spring in the valley to the entrance of Fish Gate. He made the wall go around the Ophel, and he built it very high. He put army commanders in every fortified city in Judah.

¹⁵ Manasseh got rid of the foreign gods and the idol in the Lord’s temple. He got rid of the altars he had built in the temple on the Lord’s mountain and in Jerusalem. ¹⁶ He built the Lord’s altar and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it. And he told Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁷ The people continued to sacrifice at the illegal places of worship, but they sacrificed only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ Everything else about Manasseh—including his prayer to his God and the words that the seers ^[k] spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel—are in the records of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer and how God accepted it are written in the records of Hozai. The things he did before he humbled himself are also written there. This includes all his sins and unfaithfulness and the places where he built illegal worship sites and set up idols and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah.

²⁰ Manasseh lay down in death with his ancestors. They buried him in his own palace. His son Amon succeeded him as king.

King Amon of Judah^(M)

²¹ Amon was 22 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 2 years in Jerusalem. ²² He did what the Lord considered evil, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and he worshiped them. ²³ He didn’t humble himself in front of the Lord as his father Manasseh had humbled himself. Instead, Amon continued to sin.

²⁴ His officials plotted against him and killed him in his palace. ²⁵ Then the people of the land killed everyone who had plotted against King Amon. They made his son Josiah king in his place.

King Josiah Reforms Judah’s Worship^(N)

34 Josiah was 8 years old when he began to rule, and he was king for 31 years in Jerusalem. ² He did what the Lord considered right. He lived in the ways of his ancestor David and never stopped living this way.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to dedicate his life to serving the God of his ancestor David. In his twelfth year as king, he began to make Judah and Jerusalem clean ^[l] by destroying the illegal places of worship, poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, carved idols, and metal idols. ⁴ He had the altars of the various Baal gods torn down. He cut down the incense altars that were above them. He destroyed the Asherah poles, carved idols, and metal idols. He ground them into powder and scattered the powder over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. So he made Judah and Jerusalem clean. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, he removed all their temples, ⁷ tore down the altars, beat the Asherah poles and idols into powder, and cut down all the incense altars everywhere in Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

King Josiah Rededicates Judah to God’s Promise^(O)

⁸ In the eighteenth year of his reign as he was making the land and the temple clean, Josiah sent Shaphan, son of Azaliah, Maaseiah, the mayor of the city, and Joah, the royal historian and son of Joahaz, to repair the temple of the Lord his God. ⁹ They came to the chief priest Hilkiah and gave him the money that had been brought to God’s temple, the money that the Levite doorkeepers had collected from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all who were left in Israel, from everyone in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They gave the money to the foremen who were in charge of the Lord’s temple. These foremen gave it to the workmen who were restoring and repairing the temple. ¹¹ (These workers included carpenters and builders.) They were to buy quarried stones and wood for the fittings and beams of the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to become run-down. ¹² The men did their work faithfully under the supervision of Jahath and Obadiah (Levites descended from Merari), and Zechariah and Meshullam (descendants of Kohath). The Levites, who were skilled musicians, ¹³ also supervised the workers and directed all the workmen on the various jobs. Some of the Levites served as scribes, officials, or gatekeepers.

¹⁴ When they brought out the money that had been deposited in the Lord’s temple, the priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Lord’s Teachings written by Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah told the scribe Shaphan, “I have found the Book of the Teachings in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan took the book to the king and reported, “We are doing everything you told us to do. ¹⁷ We took the money that was donated in the Lord’s temple and gave it to the supervisors and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Then the scribe Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it to the king.

¹⁹ When the king heard what the Teachings said, he tore his clothes ⌞in distress⌟. ²⁰ Then the king gave an order to Hilkiah, Ahikam (son of Shaphan), Abdon (son of Micah), the scribe Shaphan, and the royal official Asaiah. He said, ²¹ “On behalf of those who are left in Israel and Judah and me, ask the Lord about the words in this book that was found. The Lord’s fierce anger has been poured on us because our ancestors did not obey the Lord’s word by doing everything written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and the king’s officials went to talk to the prophet Huldah about this matter. She was the wife of Shallum, son of Tokhath and grandson of Hasrah. Shallum was in charge of the ⌞royal⌟ wardrobe. Huldah was living in the Second Part of Jerusalem.

²³ She told them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to bring disaster on this place and on the people living here according to the curses written in the book that was read to the king of Judah. ²⁵ I will do this because they have abandoned me and sacrificed to other gods in order to make me furious. Therefore, my anger will be poured on this place and will never come to an end.’ ”

²⁶ ⌞Huldah added,⌟ “Tell Judah’s king who sent you to me to ask the Lord a question, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words you heard: ²⁷ You had a change of heart and humbled yourself in front of God when you heard my words against this place and those who live here. You humbled yourself, tore your clothes ⌞in distress⌟, and cried in front of me. So I will listen ⌞to you⌟, declares the Lord. ²⁸ That is why I’m going to bring you to your ancestors. I’m going to bring you to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see any of the disaster I’m going to bring on this place and those who live here.’ ”

So they reported this to the king.

²⁹ Then the king sent for all the respected leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to join him. ³⁰ The king, everyone in Judah, everyone living in Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people (young and old) went up to the Lord’s temple. He read everything written in the Book of the Promise ^[m] found in the Lord’s temple so that they could hear it. ³¹ The king stood in his place and made a promise to the Lord that he would follow the Lord and obey his commands, instructions, and laws with all his heart and soul. He said he would live by the terms of the promise written in this book. ³² He also made all those found in Jerusalem and Benjamin join with him ⌞in the promise⌟. Then the people of Jerusalem lived according to the promise of God, the God of their ancestors.

³³ Josiah got rid of all the disgusting idols throughout Israelite territory. He made all people found in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they didn’t stop following the Lord God of their ancestors.

King Josiah Celebrates the Passover^(P)

35 Josiah celebrated the Passover for the Lord in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² Josiah appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple. ³ He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel and performed ceremonies to make themselves holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon, son of David and king of Israel, built. It shouldn’t be carried on your shoulders any longer. Serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. ⁴ Get yourselves ready with the family groups of your divisions, which are listed in the records of King David of Israel and the records of his son Solomon. ⁵ Stand in the holy place representing the family divisions of your relatives, the people ⌞of Israel⌟. Let the Levites be considered a part of each family. ⁶ Slaughter the Passover lamb, perform the ceremonies to make yourselves holy, and prepare ⌞the lambs⌟ for the other Israelites as the Lord instructed ⌞us⌟ through Moses.”

⁷ Josiah provided the people with 33,000 sheep and goats to be sacrificed as Passover offerings for all who were present. In addition, he provided 3,000 bulls. (These animals were the king’s property.) ⁸ His officials also voluntarily gave animals to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the men in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests 2,600 sheep and goats and 300 bulls for Passover sacrifices. ⁹ Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites 5,000 sheep and goats and 500 bulls as Passover sacrifices.

¹⁰ So the service was prepared. The priests took their positions with the Levites according to their divisions, as the king had ordered. ¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests sprinkled the blood with their hands while the Levites skinned the lambs. ¹² They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the laypeople according to their family divisions. The laypeople could then present them to the Lord as written in the Book of Moses. The Levites did the same with the bulls. ¹³ They roasted the Passover lambs according to the directions. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans and immediately served them to all the people. ¹⁴ Later, they prepared ⌞the animals⌟ for themselves and for the priests because the priests (Aaron’s descendants) were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat until that evening.

So the Levites prepared ⌞the animals⌟ for themselves and the priests. ¹⁵ The singers (Asaph’s descendants) were in their places as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king’s seer ^[n] Jeduthun had commanded. The gatekeepers were stationed at each gate. They didn’t need to leave their work, because their relatives, the Levites, prepared ⌞animals⌟ for them.