Good News Translation (GNT)

King Joash of Judah

1 Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven, and he ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba.

2 He did what was pleasing to the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive.

3 Jehoiada chose two wives for King Joash, and they bore him sons and daughters.

4 After he had been king for a while, Joash decided to have the Temple repaired.

5 He ordered the priests and the Levites to go to the cities of Judah and collect from all the people enough money to make the annual repairs on the Temple. He told them to act promptly, but the Levites delayed,

6 so he called in Jehoiada, their leader, and demanded, “Why haven’t you seen to it that the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax which Moses, the servant of the Lord, required the peopleto pay for support of the Tent of the Lord’s presence?”

(

7 The followers of Athaliah, that corrupt woman,had damaged the Temple and had used many of the sacred objects in the worship of Baal.)

8 The king ordered the Levites to make a box for contributions and to place it at the Temple gate.

9 They sent word throughout Jerusalem and Judah for everyone to bring to the Lord the tax which Moses, God’s servant, had first collected in the wilderness.

10 This pleased the people and their leaders, and they brought their tax money and filled the box with it.

11 Every day the Levites would take the box to the royal official who was in charge of it. Whenever it was full, the royal secretary and the High Priest’s representative would take the money out and return the box to its place. And so they collected a large sum of money.

12 The king and Jehoiada would give the money to those who were in charge of repairing the Temple, and they hired stonemasons, carpenters, and metalworkers to make the repairs.

13 All of them worked hard, and they restored the Temple to its original condition, as solid as ever.

14 When the repairs were finished, the remaining gold and silver was given to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to have bowls and other utensils made for the Temple.

Jehoiada’s Policies Are Reversed

As long as Jehoiada was alive, sacrifices were offered regularly at the Temple.

15 After reaching the very old age of a hundred and thirty, he died.

16 They buried him in the royal tombs in David’s City in recognition of the service he had done for the people of Israel, for God, and for the Temple.

17 But once Jehoiada was dead, the leaders of Judah persuaded King Joash to listen to them instead.

18 And so the people stopped worshiping in the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and began to worship idols and the images of the goddess Asherah. Their guilt for these sins brought the Lord’s anger on Judah and Jerusalem.

19 The Lord sent prophets to warn them to return to him, but the people refused to listen.

20 Then the spirit of God took control of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood where the people could see him and called out, “The Lord God asks why you have disobeyed his commands and are bringing disaster on yourselves! You abandoned him, so he has abandoned you!”

21 King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king’s orders the people stoned Zechariah in the Temple courtyard.

22 The king forgot about the loyal service that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had given him, and he had Zechariah killed. As Zechariah was dying, he called out, “May the Lord see what you are doing and punish you!”

The End of Joash’s Reign

23 When autumn came that year, the Syrian army attacked Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the leaders, and took large amounts of loot back to Damascus.

24 The Syrian army was small, but the Lord let them defeat a much larger Judean army because the people had abandoned him, the Lord God of their ancestors. In this way King Joash was punished.

25 He was severely wounded, and when the enemy withdrew, two of his officials plotted against him and killed him in his bed to avenge the murder of the sonof Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in David’s City, but not in the royal tombs. (

26 Those who plotted against him were Zabad, the son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith.)

27 TheCommentary on the Book of Kingscontains the stories of the sons of Joash, the prophecies spoken against him, and the record of how he rebuilt the Temple. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/24-193fffa0ee802ef1799e7cceaa6c80b2.mp3?version_id=68—

King Amaziah of Judah

1 Amaziah became king at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem.

2 He did what was pleasing to the Lord, but did it reluctantly.

3 As soon as he was firmly in power, he executed the officials who had murdered his father.

4 He did not, however, execute their children, but followed what the Lord had commanded in the Law of Moses: “Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; people are to be put to death only for crimes they themselves have committed.”

War against Edom

5 King Amaziah organized all the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin into army units, according to the clans they belonged to, and placed officers in command of units of a thousand and units of a hundred. This included all men twenty years of age or older, 300,000 in all. They were picked troops, ready for battle, skilled in using spears and shields.

6 In addition, he hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel at a cost of about four tons of silver.

7 But a prophet went to the king and said to him, “Don’t take these Israelite soldiers with you. The Lord is not with these people from the Northern Kingdom.

8 You may think that they will make you strongerin battle, but it is God who has the power to give victory or defeat, and he will let your enemies defeat you.”

9 Amaziah asked the prophet, “But what about all that silver I have already paid for them?”

The prophet replied, “The Lord can give you back more than that!”

10 So Amaziah sent the hired troops away and told them to go home. At this they went home, bitterly angry with the people of Judah.

11 Amaziah summoned up his courage and led his army to Salt Valley. There they fought and killed ten thousand Edomite soldiers

12 and captured another ten thousand. They took the prisoners to the top of the cliff at the city of Sela and threw them off, so that they were killed on the rocks below.

13 Meanwhile the Israelite soldiers that Amaziah had not allowed to go into battle with him attacked the Judean cities between Samaria and Beth Horon, killed three thousand men, and captured quantities of loot.

14 When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought their idols back with him, set them up, worshiped them, and burned incense to them.

15 This made the Lord angry, so he sent a prophet to Amaziah. The prophet demanded, “Why have you worshiped foreign gods that could not even save their own people from your power?”

16 “Since when,” Amaziah interrupted, “have we made you adviser to the king? Stop talking, or I’ll have you killed!”

The prophet stopped, but not before saying, “Now I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done all this and have ignored my advice.”

War against Israel

17 King Amaziah of Judah and his advisers plotted against Israel. He then sent a message to King Jehoash of Israel, who was the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu, challenging him to fight.

18 Jehoash sent this answer to Amaziah: “Once a thorn bush in the Lebanon Mountains sent a message to a cedar: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ A wild animal passed by and trampled the bush down.

19 Now Amaziah, you boast that you have defeated the Edomites, but I advise you to stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and your people?”

20 But Amaziah refused to listen. It was God’s will for Amaziah to be defeated, because he had worshiped the Edomite idols.

21 So King Jehoash of Israel went into battle against King Amaziah of Judah. They met at Beth Shemesh in Judah,

22 the Judean army was defeated, and the soldiers fled to their homes.

23 Jehoash captured Amaziah and took him to Jerusalem. There he tore down the city wall from Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of two hundred yards.

24 He took back to Samaria as loot all the gold and silver in the Temple, the Temple equipment guarded by the descendants of Obed Edom, and the palace treasures. He also took hostages with him.

25 King Amaziah of Judah outlived King Jehoash of Israel by fifteen years.

26 All the other things that Amaziah did from the beginning to the end of his reign are recorded inThe History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

27 Ever since the time when he rebelled against the Lord, there had been a plot against him in Jerusalem. Finally he fled to the city of Lachish, but his enemies followed him there and killed him.

28 His body was carried to Jerusalem on a horse, and he was buried in the royal tombs in David’s City.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/25-e59eebb9416d4f1d3622e58b816a5a7a.mp3?version_id=68—

King Uzziah of Judah

1 All the people of Judah chose Amaziah’s sixteen-year-old son Uzziah to succeed his father as king. (

2 It was after the death of Amaziah that Uzziah recaptured Elath and rebuilt the city.)

3 Uzziah became king at the age of sixteen, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem.

4 Following the example of his father, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

5 As long as Zechariah, his religious adviser, was living, he served the Lord faithfully, and God blessed him.

6 Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of the cities of Gath, Jamnia, and Ashdod, and built fortified cities near Ashdod and in the rest of Philistia.

7 God helped him defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living at Gurbaal, and the Meunites.

8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and he became so powerful that his fame spread even to Egypt.

9 Uzziah strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem by building towers at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and where the wall turned.

10 He also built fortified towers in the open country and dug many cisterns, because he had large herds of livestock in the western foothills and plains. Because he loved farming, he encouraged the people to plant vineyards in the hill country and to farm the fertile land.

11 He had a large army ready for battle. Its records were kept by his secretaries Jeiel and Maaseiah under the supervision of Hananiah, a member of the king’s staff.

12 The army was commanded by 2,600 officers.

13 Under them were 307,500 soldiers able to fight effectively for the king against his enemies.

14 Uzziah supplied the army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and arrows, and stones for slinging.

15 In Jerusalem his inventors made equipment for shooting arrows and for throwing large stones from the towers and corners of the city wall. His fame spread everywhere, and he became very powerful because of the help he received from God.

Uzziah Is Punished for His Pride

16 But when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant, and that led to his downfall. He defied the Lord his God by going into the Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

17 Azariah the priest, accompanied by eighty strong and courageous priests, followed the king

18 to resist him. They said, “Uzziah! You have no right to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests who are descended from Aaron have been consecrated to do this. Leave this holy place. You have offended the Lord God, and you no longer have his blessing.”

19 Uzziah was standing there in the Temple beside the incense altar and was holding an incense burner. He became angry with the priests, and immediately a dreaded skin disease broke out on his forehead.

20 Azariah and the other priests stared at the king’s forehead in horror and then forced him to leave the Temple. He hurried to get out, because the Lord had punished him.

21 For the rest of his life King Uzziah was ritually unclean because of his disease. Unable to enter the Temple again, he lived in his own house, relieved of all duties, while his son Jotham governed the country.

22 The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz recorded all the other things that King Uzziah did during his reign.

23 Uzziah died and was buried in the royal burial ground, but because of his disease he was not buried in the royal tombs. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/26-b56f848c52ba5670bede2c2160fd63d7.mp3?version_id=68—

King Jotham of Judah

1 Jotham became king at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. His mother was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.

2 He did what was pleasing to the Lord, just as his father had done; but unlike his father he did not sin by burning incensein the Temple. The people, however, went on sinning.

3 It was Jotham who built the North Gate of the Temple and did extensive work on the city wall in the area of Jerusalem called Ophel.

4 In the mountains of Judah he built cities, and in the forests he built forts and towers.

5 He fought against the king of Ammon and his army and defeated them. Then he forced the Ammonites to pay him the following tribute each year for three years: four tons of silver, fifty thousand bushels of wheat, and fifty thousand bushels of barley.

6 Jotham grew powerful because he faithfully obeyed the Lord his God.

7 The other events of Jotham’s reign, his wars, and his policies, are all recorded inThe History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

8 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years.

9 He died and was buried in David’s City and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/27-f7397c1459094ff4575fd164847576b0.mp3?version_id=68—

King Ahaz of Judah

1 Ahaz 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

2 and followed the example of the kings of Israel. He had metal images of Baal made,

3 burned incense in Hinnom Valley, 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.

4 At the pagan places of worship, on the hills, and under every shady tree Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned 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.

7 An Israelite soldier named Zichri killed King Ahaz’ son Maaseiah, the palace administrator Azrikam, and Elkanah, who was second in command to the king.

8 Even 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

9 A 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.

10 And 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?

11 Listen to me! These prisoners are your brothers and sisters. Let them go, or the Lord will punish you in his anger.”

12 Four 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.

13 They 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.”

14 So then the army handed the prisoners and the loot over to the people and their leaders,

15 and 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

16-17 The Edomites began to raid Judah again and captured many prisoners, so King Ahaz asked Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, to send help.

18 At 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.

19 Because King Ahaz of Judah had violated the rights of his people and had defied the Lord, the Lord brought troubles on Judah.

20 The Assyrian emperor, instead of helping Ahaz, opposed him and caused him trouble.

21 So 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

22 When his troubles were at their worst, that man Ahaz sinned against the Lord more than ever.

23 He 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.

24 In 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.

25 In every city and town in Judah he built pagan places of worship, where incense was to be burned to foreign gods. In this way he brought on himself the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

26 All the other events of his reign, from beginning to end, are recorded inThe 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.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/28-4372ff362af309a0f8fba325b7015091.mp3?version_id=68—

King Hezekiah of Judah

1 Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

2 Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

The Purification of the Temple

3 In the first month of the year after Hezekiah became king, he reopened the gates of the Temple and had them repaired.

4 He assembled a group of priests and Levites in the east courtyard of the Temple

5 and 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.

6 Our 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.

7 They 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.

8 Because 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.

9 Our 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.

11 My 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 worshiping him.”

12-14 The 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 Zimmah 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

15 These 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.

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 Kidron Valley.

17 The 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

18 The 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.

19 We 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.”

20 Without delay King Hezekiah assembled the leading men of the city, and together they went to the Temple.

21 As 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.

22 The priests killed the bulls first, then the sheep, and then the lambs, and sprinkled the blood of each sacrifice on the altar.

23 Finally they took the goats to the king and to the other worshipers, who laid their hands on them.

24 Then 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 that burnt offerings and sin offerings be made for all Israel.

25 The 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,

26 instruments like those that King David had used. The priests also stood there with trumpets.

27 Hezekiah 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.

28 Everyone who was there joined in worship, and the singing and the rest of the music continued until all the sacrifices had been burned.

29 Then King Hezekiah and all the people knelt down and worshiped God.

30 The 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 worshiped God.

31 Hezekiah 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.

32 They brought 70 bulls, 100 sheep, and 200 lambs as burnt offerings for the Lord;

33 they also brought 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep as sacrifices for the people to eat.

34 Since 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 Levites were more faithful in keeping ritually clean than the priests were.)

35 In addition to offering the sacrifices that were burned whole, the priests were responsible for burning the fat that was offered from the sacrifices which the people ate, and for pouring out the wine that was presented with the burnt offerings.

And so worship in the Temple was begun again.

36 King Hezekiah and the people were happy, because God had helped them to do all this so quickly.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/29-1ec5538f79dbbbad21aaf7b5fd95ad6f.mp3?version_id=68—

Preparations for Passover

1-3 The people had not been able to celebrate the Passover Festival at the proper time in the first month, because not enough priests were ritually clean and not many people had assembled in Jerusalem. So King Hezekiah, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem agreed to celebrate it in the second month, and the king sent word to all the people of Israel and Judah. He took special care to send letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord, the God of Israel.

4 The king and the people were pleased with their plan,

5 so they invited all the Israelites, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, to come together in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover according to the Law, in larger numbers than ever before.

6 Messengers went out at the command of the king and his officials through all Judah and Israel with the following invitation:

“People of Israel, you have survived the Assyrian conquest of the land. Now return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to you.

7 Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the Lord their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.

8 Do not be stubborn as they were, but obey the Lord. Come to the Temple in Jerusalem, which the Lord your God has made holy forever, and worship him so that he will no longer be angry with you.

9 If you return to the Lord, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The Lord your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you.”

10 The messengers went to every city in the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, but people laughed at them and made fun of them.

11 Still, there were some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who were willing to come to Jerusalem.

12 God was also at work in Judah and united the people in their determination to obey his will by following the commands of the king and his officials.

Passover Is Celebrated

13 A great number of people gathered in Jerusalem in the second month to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

14 They took all the altars that had been used in Jerusalem for offering sacrifices and burning incense and threw them into Kidron Valley.

15 And on the fourteenth day of the month they killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. The priests and Levites who were not ritually clean became so ashamed that they dedicated themselves to the Lord, and now they could sacrifice burnt offerings in the Temple.

16 They took their places in the Temple according to the instructions in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood of the sacrifices to the priests, who sprinkled it on the altar.

17 Because many of the people were not ritually clean, they could not kill the Passover lambs, so the Levites did it for them and dedicated the lambs to the Lord.

18 In addition, many of those who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not performed the ritual of purification, and so they were observing Passover improperly. King Hezekiah offered this prayer for them:

19 “O Lord, the God of our ancestors, in your goodness forgive those who are worshiping you with all their heart, even though they are not ritually clean.”

20 The Lord answered Hezekiah’s prayer; he forgave the people and did not harm them.

21 For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the Lord with all their strength.

22 Hezekiah praised the Levites for their skill in conducting the worship of the Lord.

A Second Celebration

After the seven days during which they offered sacrifices in praise of the Lord, the God of their ancestors,

23 they all decided to celebrate for another seven days. So they celebrated with joy.

24 King Hezekiah contributed 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for the people to kill and eat, and the officials gave them another 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. A large number of priests went through the ritual of purification.

25 So everyone was happy—the people of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the people who had come from the north, and the foreigners who had settled permanently in Israel and Judah.

26 The city of Jerusalem was filled with joy, because nothing like this had happened since the days of King Solomon, the son of David.

27 The priests and the Levites asked the Lord’s blessing on the people. In his home in heaven God heard their prayers and accepted them.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/30-9faed0e5dc5643b5004bf9b24ed822b2.mp3?version_id=68—

Hezekiah Reforms Religious Life

1 After the festival ended, all the people of Israel went to every city in Judah and broke the stone pillars, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and destroyed the altars and the pagan places of worship. They did the same thing throughout the rest of Judah, and the territories of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh; then they all returned home.

2 King Hezekiah reestablished the organization of the priests and Levites, under which they each had specific duties. These included offering the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, taking part in the Temple worship, and giving praise and thanks in the various parts of the Temple.

3 From his own flocks and herds he provided animals for the burnt offerings each morning and evening, and for those offered on the Sabbath, at the New Moon Festival, and at the other festivals which are required by the Law of the Lord.

4 In addition, the king told the people of Jerusalem to bring the offerings to which the priests and the Levites were entitled, so that they could give all their time to the requirements of the Law of the Lord.

5 As soon as the order was given, the people of Israel brought gifts of their finest grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and other farm produce, and they also brought the tithesof everything they had.

6 All the people who lived in the cities of Judah brought tithes of their cattle and sheep, and they also brought large quantities of gifts which they dedicated to the Lord their God.

7 The gifts started arriving in the third month and continued to pile up for the next four months.

8 When King Hezekiah and his officials saw how much had been given, they praised the Lord and praised his people Israel.

9 The king spoke to the priests and the Levites about these gifts,

10 and Azariah the High Priest, a descendant of Zadok, said to him, “Since the people started bringing their gifts to the Temple, there has been enough to eat and a large surplus besides. We have all this because the Lord has blessed his people.”

11 On the king’s orders they prepared storerooms in the Temple area

12 and put all the gifts and tithes in them for safekeeping. They placed a Levite named Conaniah in charge and made his brother Shimei his assistant.

13 Ten Levites were assigned to work under them: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah. All this was done under the authority of King Hezekiah and Azariah the High Priest.

14 Kore son of Imnah, a Levite who was chief guard at the East Gate of the Temple, was in charge of receiving the gifts offered to the Lord and of distributing them.

15 In the other cities where priests lived, he was faithfully assisted in this by other Levites: Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. They distributed the food equally to their fellow Levites according to what their duties were,

16 and not by clans. They gave a share to all males thirtyyears of age or older who had daily responsibilities in the Temple in accordance with their positions.

17 The priests were assigned their duties by clans, and the Levites twenty years of age or older were assigned theirs by work groups.

18 They were all registered together with their wives, children, and other dependents, because they were required to be ready to perform their sacred duties at any time.

19 Among the priests who lived in the cities assigned to Aaron’s descendants or in the pasture lands belonging to these cities, there were responsible men who distributed the food to all the males in the priestly families and to everyone who was on the rolls of the Levite clans.

20 Throughout all Judah, King Hezekiah did what was right and what was pleasing to the Lord his God.

21 He was successful, because everything he did for the Temple or in observance of the Law, he did in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to his God.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/31-c21fa3ff17ff34b83528521db9d4f1dc.mp3?version_id=68—

The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem

1 After these events, in which King Hezekiah served the Lord faithfully, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities and gave orders for his army to break their way through the walls.

2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib intended to attack Jerusalem also,

3-4 he and his officials decided to cut off the supply of water outside the city in order to keep the Assyrians from having any water when they got near Jerusalem. The officials led a large number of people out and stopped up all the springs, so that no more water flowed out of them.

5 The king strengthened the city’s defenses by repairing the wall, building towers on it,and building an outer wall. In addition, he repaired the defenses built on the land that was filled in on the east side of the old part of Jerusalem. He also had a large number of spears and shields made.

6 He placed all the men in the city under the command of army officers and had them assemble in the open square at the city gate. He said to them,

7 “Be determined and confident, and don’t be afraid of the Assyrian emperor or of the army he is leading. We have more power on our side than he has on his.

8 He has human power, but we have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were encouraged by these words of their king.

9 Some time later, while Sennacherib and his army were still at Lachish, he sent the following message to Hezekiah and the people of Judah who were with him in Jerusalem:

10 “I, Sennacherib, Emperor of Assyria, ask what gives you people the confidence to remain in Jerusalem under siege.

11 Hezekiah tells you that the Lord your God will save you from our power, but Hezekiah is deceiving you and will let you die of hunger and thirst.

12 He is the one who destroyed the Lord’s shrines and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship and burn incense at one altar only.

13 Don’t you know what my ancestors and I have done to the people of other nations? Did the gods of any other nation save their people from the emperor of Assyria?

14 When did any of the gods of all those countries ever save their country from us? Then what makes you think that your god can save you?

15 Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like that. Don’t believe him! No god of any nation has ever been able to save his people from any Assyrian emperor. So certainly this god of yours can’t save you!”

16 The Assyrian officials said even worse things about the Lord God and Hezekiah, the Lord’s servant.

17 The letter that the emperor wrote defied the Lord, the God of Israel. It said, “The gods of the nations have not saved their people from my power, and neither will Hezekiah’s god save his people from me.”

18 The officials shouted this in Hebrew in order to frighten and discourage the people of Jerusalem who were on the city wall, so that it would be easier to capture the city.

19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem in the same way that they talked about the gods of the other peoples, idols made by human hands.

20 Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed to God and cried out to him for help.

21 The Lord sent an angel that killed the soldiers and officers of the Assyrian army. So the emperor went back to Assyria disgraced. One day when he was in the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him with their swords.

22 In this way the Lord rescued King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the power of Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, and also from their other enemies. He let the people live in peacewith all the neighboring countries.

23 Many people came to Jerusalem, bringing offerings to the Lord and gifts to Hezekiah, so that from then on all the nations held Hezekiah in honor.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Pride

24 About this time King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. He prayed, and the Lord gave him a sign that he would recover.

25 But Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the Lord had done for him, and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it.

26 Finally, however, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem humbled themselves, and so the Lord did not punish the people until after Hezekiah’s death.

Hezekiah’s Wealth and Splendor

27 King Hezekiah became very wealthy, and everyone held him in honor. He had storerooms built for his gold, silver, precious stones, spices, shields, and other valuable objects.

28 In addition, he had storehouses built for his grain, wine, and olive oil; barns for his cattle; and pens for his sheep.

29 Besides all this, God gave him sheep and cattle and so much other wealth that he built many cities.

30 It was King Hezekiah who blocked the outlet for Gihon Spring and channeled the water to flow through a tunnel to a point inside the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did,

31 and even when the Babylonian ambassadors came to inquire about the unusual event that had happened in the land, God let Hezekiah go his own way only in order to test his character.

The End of Hezekiah’s Reign

32 Everything else that King Hezekiah did and his devotion to the Lord are recorded inThe Vision of the Prophet Isaiah Son of Amozand inThe History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

33 Hezekiah died and was buried in the upper section of the royal tombs. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem paid him great honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/32-bc99edcb9141acd12c8719fecf3e8e1f.mp3?version_id=68—

King Manasseh of Judah

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years.

2 Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the Lord.

3 He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for the worship of Baal, made images of the goddess Asherah, and worshiped the stars.

4 He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the Lord had said was where he should be worshiped forever.

5 In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.

6 He sacrificed his sons in Hinnom Valley as burnt offerings. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the Lord and stirred up his anger.

7 He placed an image in the Temple, the place about which God had said to David and his son Solomon: “Here in Jerusalem, in this Temple, is the place that I have chosen out of all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel as the place where I am to be worshiped.

8 And if the people of Israel will obey all my commands and keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them, then I will not allow them to be driven out of the land that I gave to their ancestors.”

9 Manasseh led the people of Judah to commit even greater sins than those committed by the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the land as his people advanced.

Manasseh Repents

10 Although the Lord warned Manasseh and his people, they refused to listen.

11 So the Lord let the commanders of the Assyrian army invade Judah. They captured Manasseh, stuck hooks in him, put him in chains, and took him to Babylon.

12 In his suffering he became humble, turned to the Lord his God, and begged him for help.

13 God accepted Manasseh’s prayer and answered it by letting him go back to Jerusalem and rule again. This convinced Manasseh that the Lord was God.

14 After this, Manasseh increased the height of the outer wall on the east side of David’s City, from a point in the valley near Gihon Spring north to the Fish Gate and the area of the city called Ophel. He also stationed an army officer in command of a unit of troops in each of the fortified cities of Judah.

15 He removed from the Temple the foreign gods and the image that he had placed there, and the pagan altars that were on the hill where the Temple stood and in other places in Jerusalem; he took all these things outside the city and threw them away.

16 He also repaired the altar where the Lord was worshiped, and he sacrificed fellowship offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it. He commanded all the people of Judah to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

17 Although the people continued to offer sacrifices at other places of worship, they offered them only to the Lord.

The End of Manasseh’s Reign

18 Everything else that Manasseh did, the prayer he made to his God, and the messages of the prophets who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are all recorded inThe History of the Kings of Israel.

19 The king’s prayer and God’s answer to it, and an account of the sins he committed before he repented—the evil he did, the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah that he made and the idols that he worshiped—are all recorded inThe History of the Prophets.

20 Manasseh died and was buried at the palace, and his son Amon succeeded him as king.

King Amon of Judah

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years.

22 Like his father Manasseh, he sinned against the Lord, and he worshiped the idols that his father had worshiped.

23 But unlike his father, he did not become humble and turn to the Lord; he was even more sinful than his father had been.

24 Amon’s officials plotted against him and assassinated him in the palace.

25 The people of Judah killed Amon’s assassins and made his son Josiah king.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/2CH/33-d76b7368a39ea32bb7a7e522abf54ae0.mp3?version_id=68—