2 Chronicles 28–29

King Ahaz of Judah

28Ahaz became king at the age of twenty, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not follow the good example of his ancestor King David; instead, he did what was not pleasing to the Lord ²and followed the example of the kings of Israel. He had metal images of Baal made, ³burnt incense in the Valley of Hinnom, and even sacrificed his own sons as burnt offerings to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced. ⁴At the pagan places of worship, on the hills, and under every shady tree Ahaz offered sacrifices and burnt incense.

War with Syria and Israel

^5–6*Because King Ahaz sinned, the Lord his God let the king of Syria defeat him and take a large number of Judeans back to Damascus as prisoners. The Lord also let the king of Israel, Pekah son of Remaliah, defeat Ahaz and kill 120,000 of the bravest Judean soldiers in one day. The Lord, the God of their ancestors, permitted this to happen, because the people of Judah had abandoned him. ⁷An Israelite soldier named Zichri killed King Ahaz’ son Maaseiah, the palace administrator Azrikam, and Elkanah, who was second in command to the king. ⁸Even though the Judeans were their own relatives, the Israelite army captured 200,000 women and children as prisoners and took them back to Samaria, along with large amounts of loot.

The Prophet Oded

⁹A man named Oded, a prophet of the Lord, lived in the city of Samaria. He met the returning Israelite army with its Judean prisoners as it was about to enter the city, and he said, “The Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah and let you defeat them, but now he has heard of the vicious way you slaughtered them. ¹⁰And now you intend to make the men and women of Jerusalem and Judah your slaves. Don’t you know that you also have committed sins against the Lord your God? ¹¹Listen to me! These prisoners are your brothers and sisters. Let them go, or the Lord will punish you in his anger.”

¹²Four of the leading men of the Northern Kingdom, Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai also opposed the actions of the army. ¹³They said, “Don’t bring those prisoners here! We have already sinned against the Lord and made him angry enough to punish us. Now you want to do something that will increase our guilt.” ¹⁴So then the army handed the prisoners and the loot over to the people and their leaders, ¹⁵and the four men were appointed to provide the prisoners with clothing from the captured loot. They gave them clothes and sandals to wear, gave them enough to eat and drink, and put olive oil on their wounds. Those who were too weak to walk were put on donkeys, and all the prisoners were taken back to Judean territory at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then the Israelites returned home to Samaria.

Ahaz Asks Assyria for Help

^16–17The Edomites began to raid Judah again and captured many prisoners, so King Ahaz asked Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, to send help. ¹⁸At this same time the Philistines were raiding the towns in the western foothills and in southern Judah. They captured the cities of Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, and the cities of Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their villages, and settled there permanently. ¹⁹Because King Ahaz of Judah had violated the rights of his people and had defied the Lord, the Lord brought troubles on Judah. ²⁰The Assyrian emperor, instead of helping Ahaz, opposed him and caused him trouble. ²¹So Ahaz took the gold from the Temple, the palace, and the homes of the leaders of the people, and gave it to the emperor, but even this did not help.

The Sins of Ahaz

²²When his troubles were at their worst, that man Ahaz sinned against the Lord more than ever. ²³He offered sacrifices to the gods of the Syrians, who had defeated him. He said, “The Syrian gods helped the kings of Syria, so if I sacrifice to them, they may help me too.” This brought disaster on him and on his nation. ²⁴In addition, he took all the temple equipment and broke it in pieces. He closed the Temple and set up altars in every part of Jerusalem. ²⁵In every city and town in Judah, he built pagan places of worship, where incense was to be burnt to foreign gods. In this way he brought on himself the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

²⁶All the other events of his reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ^27*King Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

King Hezekiah of Judah

29Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of 25, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ²Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

The Purification of the Temple

³In the first month of the year after Hezekiah became king, he re-opened the gates of the Temple and had them repaired. ⁴He assembled a group of priests and Levites in the east courtyard of the Temple ⁵and spoke to them there. He said, “You Levites are to consecrate yourselves and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove from the Temple everything that defiles it. ⁶Our ancestors were unfaithful to the Lord our God and did what was displeasing to him. They abandoned him and turned their backs on the place where he dwells. ⁷They closed the doors of the Temple, let the lamps go out, and failed to burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the Temple of the God of Israel. ⁸Because of this the Lord has been angry with Judah and Jerusalem, and what he has done to them has shocked and frightened everyone. You know this very well. ⁹Our fathers were killed in battle, and our wives and children have been taken away as prisoners.

¹⁰“I have now decided to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that he will no longer be angry with us. ¹¹My sons, do not lose any time. You are the ones that the Lord has chosen to burn incense to him and to lead the people in worshipping him.”

^12–14The following Levites were there:

From the clan of Kohath, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah

From the clan of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel

From the clan of Gershon, Joah son of Zimnah and Eden son of Joah

From the clan of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel

From the clan of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah

From the clan of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei

From the clan of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel

¹⁵These men assembled their fellow-Levites, and they all made themselves ritually clean. Then, as the king had commanded them to do, they began to make the Temple ritually clean, according to the Law of the Lord.^{q 16}The priests went inside the Temple to purify it, and they carried out into the temple courtyard everything that was ritually unclean. From there the Levites took it all outside the city to the valley of the Kidron.

¹⁷The work was begun on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day they had finished it all, including the entrance room to the Temple. Then they worked for the next eight days, until the sixteenth of the month, preparing the Temple for worship.

The Temple Is Rededicated

¹⁸The Levites made the following report to King Hezekiah: “We have completed the ritual purification of the whole Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, the table for the sacred bread, and all their equipment. ¹⁹We have also brought back all the equipment which King Ahaz took away during those years he was unfaithful to God, and we have rededicated it. It is all in front of the Lord’s altar.”

²⁰Without delay King Hezekiah assembled the leading men of the city, and together they went to the Temple. ²¹As an offering to take away the sins of the royal family and of the people of Judah and to purify the Temple, they took seven bulls, seven sheep, seven lambs, and seven goats. The king told the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to offer the animals as sacrifices on the altar. ²²The priests killed the bulls first, then the sheep, and then the lambs, and sprinkled the blood of each sacrifice on the altar. ²³Finally they took the goats to the king and to the other worshippers, who laid their hands on them. ²⁴Then the priests killed the goats and poured their blood on the altar as a sacrifice to take away the sin of all the people, for the king had commanded burnt offerings and sin offerings to be made for all Israel.

²⁵The king followed the instructions that the Lord had given to King David through Gad, the king’s prophet, and through the prophet Nathan; he stationed Levites in the Temple, with harps and cymbals, ²⁶instruments like those that King David had used. The priests also stood there with trumpets. ²⁷Hezekiah gave the order for the burnt offering to be presented; and as the offering began, the people sang praise to the Lord, and the musicians began to play the trumpets and all the other instruments. ²⁸Everyone who was there joined in worship, and the singing and the rest of the music continued until all the sacrifices had been burnt. ²⁹Then King Hezekiah and all the people knelt down and worshipped God. ³⁰The king and the leaders of the nation told the Levites to sing to the Lord the songs of praise that were written by David and by Asaph the prophet. So everyone sang with great joy as they knelt and worshipped God.

³¹Hezekiah said to the people, “Now that you are ritually clean, bring sacrifices as offerings of thanksgiving to the Lord.” They obeyed, and some of them also voluntarily brought animals to be sacrificed as burnt offerings. ³²They brought 70 bulls, 100 sheep, and 200 lambs as burnt offerings for the Lord; ³³they also brought 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep as sacrifices for the people to eat. ³⁴Since there were not enough priests to kill all these animals, the Levites helped them until the work was finished. By then more priests had made themselves ritually clean. (The…