2 Chronicles 28–29

JUDAH’S KING AHAZ

28Ahaz was twenty years old^u when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight^v like his ancestor David, ²for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel^w and made cast images of the Baals.^{x 3}He burned incense in Ben Hinnom Valley^y and burned his children in^Az the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{aa 4}He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places,^a on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁵So the Lord his God handed Ahaz over^b to the king of Aram. He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus.

Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force: ⁶Pekah son of Remaliah killed one hundred twenty thousand in Judah in one day—all brave men—because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. ⁷An Ephraimite warrior named Zichri killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam governor of the palace, and Elkanah who was second to the king. ⁸Then the Israelites took two hundred thousand captives from their brothers—women, sons, and daughters.^c They also took a great deal of plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.

⁹A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Look, the Lord God of your ancestors handed them over to you because of his wrath against Judah,^d but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached heaven.^{e 10}Now you plan to reduce the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, to slavery. Are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? ¹¹Listen to me and return the captives you took from your brothers,^f for the Lord’s burning anger is on you.”

¹²So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood in opposition to those coming from the war. ¹³They said to them, “You must not bring the captives here, for you plan to bring guilt on us from the Lord to add to our sins and our guilt. For we have much guilt, and burning anger is on Israel.”

¹⁴The army left the captives and the plunder in the presence of the officers and the congregation. ¹⁵Then the men who were designated by name^g took charge of the captives and provided clothes for their naked ones from the plunder. They clothed them, gave them sandals, food and drink,^h dressed their wounds, and provided donkeys for all the feeble. The Israelites brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms,ⁱ among their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help.^{j 17}The Edomites came again, attacked Judah, and took captives.^{k 18}The Philistines also raided the cities of the Judean foothills^B and the Negev of Judah.^l They captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, as well as Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their surrounding villages. ¹⁹For the Lord humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah,^A who threw off restraint in Judah and was unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰Then King Tiglath-pileser^m of Assyria came against Ahaz; he oppressed him and did not give him support.^{n 21}Although Ahaz plundered the Lord’s temple and the palace of the king and of the rulers and gave the plunder to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

²²At the time of his distress, King Ahaz himself became more unfaithful to the Lord. ²³He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him; he said, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me.”^o But they were the downfall of him and of all Israel.

²⁴Then Ahaz gathered up the utensils of God’s temple, cut them into pieces,^p shut the doors of the Lord’s temple,^q and made himself altars on every street corner in Jerusalem.^{r 25}He made high places in every city of Judah to offer incense to other gods, and he angered the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

AHAZ’S DEATH

²⁶As for the rest of his deeds^s and all his ways, from beginning to end, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah became king in his place.

JUDAH’S KING HEZEKIAH

29Hezekiah was twenty-five years old^t when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. ²He did what was right in the Lord’s sight^u just as his ancestor David had done.

³In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them.^{v 4}Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the eastern public square.^{a 5}He said to them, “Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves^b now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place. ⁶For our ancestors were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place, and turned their backs on him.^{Dc 7}They also closed the doors of the portico, extinguished the lamps, did not burn incense, and did not offer burnt offerings in the holy place of the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore, the wrath of the Lord was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them an object of terror, horror, and mockery,^Ed as you see with your own eyes. ⁹Our fathers fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this.^{e 10}It is in my heart now to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel^f so that his burning anger may turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, don’t be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to serve him, and to be his ministers and burners of incense.”^g

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

¹²Then the Levites stood up:

Mahath^h son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites;

Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites;ⁱ

Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites;

¹³Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphanites;

Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaphites;

¹⁴Jehiel^A and Shimei from the Hemanites;

Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthunites.

¹⁵They gathered their brothers together, consecrated themselves,^j and went according to the king’s command by the words of the Lord^k to cleanse the Lord’s temple.^l

¹⁶The priests went to the entrance of the Lord’s temple to cleanse it. They took all the unclean things they found in the Lord’s sanctuary to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. Then the Levites received them and took them outside to the Kidron Valley.^{m 17}They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the portico of the Lord’s temple. They consecrated the Lord’s temple for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

¹⁸Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the rows of the Bread of the Presence and all its utensils. ¹⁹We have set up and consecrated all the utensils that King Ahaz rejected during his reignⁿ when he became unfaithful. They are in front of the altar of the Lord.”

RENEWAL OF TEMPLE WORSHIP

²⁰King Hezekiah got up early, gathered the city officials, and went to the Lord’s temple. ²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he told the descendants of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²²So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and splattered it on the altar.^o They slaughtered the rams and splattered the blood on the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and splattered the blood on the altar. ²³Then they brought the goats for the sin offering right into the presence of the king and the congregation, who laid their hands on them.^{p 24}The priests slaughtered the goats and put their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel,^q for the king said that the burnt offering and sin offering were for all Israel.

²⁵Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres^r according to the command of David,^s Gad the king’s seer,^t and the prophet Nathan.^u For the command was from the Lord through his prophets. ²⁶The Levites stood with the instruments of David,^v and the priests with the trumpets.^w

²⁷Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. When the burnt offerings began, the song of the Lord and the trumpets began, accompanied by the instruments of King David of Israel. ²⁸The whole assembly was worshiping, singing the song, and blowing the trumpets—all this continued until the burnt offering was completed. ²⁹When the burnt offerings were completed, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshiped.^{a 30}Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to sing praise to the Lord in the words of David and of the seer Asaph. So they sang praises with rejoicing and knelt low and worshiped.

³¹Hezekiah concluded, “Now you are consecrated^A to the Lord. Come near and bring sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the Lord’s temple.” So the congregation brought sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and all those with willing hearts^b brought burnt offerings. ³²The number of burnt offerings the congregation brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³Six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats were consecrated.

³⁴However, since there were not enough priests, they weren’t able to skin all the burnt offerings, so their Levite brothers helped them^c until the work was finished and until the priests consecrated…