The Second Book of Chronicles, starting at chapter 28
{28:1} Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he didn't do that which was
right in the eyes of Yahweh, like David his father; {28:2} but he
walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images
for the Baals. {28:3} Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the
son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, according to the
abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children
of Israel. {28:4} He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places,
and on the hills, and under every green tree. {28:5} Therefore Yahweh
his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they
struck him, and carried away of his a great multitude of captives, and
brought them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hand of the
king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter. {28:6} For
Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred twenty thousand
in one day, all of them valiant men; because they had forsaken Yahweh,
the God of their fathers. {28:7} Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim,
killed Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the ruler of the house,
and Elkanah who was next to the king. {28:8} The children of Israel
carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women,
sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and
brought the spoil to Samaria. {28:9} But a prophet of Yahweh was
there, whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the army that came
to Samaria, and said to them, Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your
fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand,
and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
{28:10} Now you purpose to keep under the children of Judah and
Jerusalem for bondservants and bondmaids to you: [but] aren't there
even with you trespasses of your own against Yahweh your God? {28:11}
Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives, that you have taken
captive of your brothers; for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is on you.
{28:12} Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah
the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah
the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against
those who came from the war, {28:13} and said to them, You shall not
bring in the captives here: for you purpose that which will bring on
us a trespass against Yahweh, to add to our sins and to our trespass;
for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.
{28:14} So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the
princes and all the assembly. {28:15} The men who have been mentioned
by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all
who were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave
them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the
feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of
palm trees, to their brothers: then they returned to Samaria. {28:16}
At that time did king Ahaz send to the kings of Assyria to help him.
{28:17} For again the Edomites had come and struck Judah, and carried
away captives. {28:18} The Philistines also had invaded the cities of
the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh,
and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with the towns of it, and Timnah
with the towns of it, Gimzo also and the towns of it: and they lived
there. {28:19} For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of
Israel; for he had dealt wantonly in Judah, and trespassed severely
against Yahweh. {28:20} Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria came to him,
and distressed him, but didn't strengthen him. {28:21} For Ahaz took
away a portion out of the house of Yahweh, and out of the house of the
king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria: but it
didn't help him. {28:22} In the time of his distress did he trespass
yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz. {28:23} For he
sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which struck him; and he said,
Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, [therefore] will I
sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of
him, and of all Israel. {28:24} Ahaz gathered together the vessels of
the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God,
and shut up the doors of the house of Yahweh; and he made him altars
in every corner of Jerusalem. {28:25} In every city of Judah he made
high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger
Yahweh, the God of his fathers. {28:26} Now the rest of his acts, and
all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of
the kings of Judah and Israel. {28:27} Ahaz slept with his fathers,
and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem; for they didn't
bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son
reigned in his place.
{29:1} Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old;
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name
was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. {29:2} He did that which was
right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father
had done. {29:3} He in the first year of his reign, in the first
month, opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, and repaired them.
{29:4} He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them
together into the broad place on the east, {29:5} and said to them,
Hear me, you Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house
of Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out
of the holy place. {29:6} For our fathers have trespassed, and done
that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken
him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh,
and turned their backs. {29:7} Also they have shut up the doors of the
porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered
burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. {29:8}
Therefore the wrath of Yahweh was on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has
delivered them to be tossed back and forth, to be an astonishment, and
a hissing, as you see with your eyes. {29:9} For, behold, our fathers
have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives
are in captivity for this. {29:10} Now it is in my heart to make a
covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may
turn away from us. {29:11} My sons, don't be negligent now; for Yahweh
has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you
should be his ministers, and burn incense. {29:12} Then the Levites
arose, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the
sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of
Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah
the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; {29:13} and of the sons
of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah
and Mattaniah; {29:14} and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei;
and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. {29:15} They
gathered their brothers, and sanctified themselves, and went in,
according to the commandment of the king by the words of Yahweh, to
cleanse the house of Yahweh. {29:16} The priests went in to the inner
part of the house of Yahweh, to cleanse it, and brought out all the
uncleanness that they found in the temple of Yahweh into the court of
the house of Yahweh. The Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to
the brook Kidron. {29:17} Now they began on the first [day] of the
first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they
to the porch of Yahweh; and they sanctified the house of Yahweh in
eight days: and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an
end. {29:18} Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within [the
palace], and said, We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, and the
altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels of it, and the table of
show bread, with all the vessels of it. {29:19} Moreover all the
vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away when he
trespassed, have we prepared and sanctified; and behold, they are
before the altar of Yahweh. {29:20} Then Hezekiah the king arose
early, and gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the house
of Yahweh. {29:21} They brought seven bulls, and seven rams, and seven
lambs, and seven male goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom and
for the sanctuary and for Judah. He commanded the priests the sons of
Aaron to offer them on the altar of Yahweh. {29:22} So they killed the
bulls, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the
altar: and they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar:
they killed also the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
{29:23} They brought near the male goats for the sin offering before
the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them: {29:24}
and the priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their
blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king
commanded [that] the burnt offering and the sin offering [should be
made] for all Israel. {29:25} He set the Levites in the house of
Yahweh with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps,
according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and
Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of Yahweh by his prophets.
{29:26} The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the
priests with the trumpets. {29:27} Hezekiah commanded to offer the
burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song
of Yahweh began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments
of David king of Israel. {29:28} All the assembly worshiped, and the
singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this [continued] until
the burnt offering was finished. {29:29} When they had made an end of
offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves
and worshiped. {29:30} Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes
commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of
David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and
they bowed their heads and worshiped. {29:31} Then Hezekiah answered,
Now you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh; come near and bring
sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of Yahweh. The assembly
brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a
willing heart [brought] burnt offerings. {29:32} The number of the
burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one
hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt
offering to Yahweh. {29:33} The consecrated things were six hundred
oxen and three thousand sheep. {29:34} But the priests were too few,
so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: therefore their
brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until
the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more
upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. {29:35} Also
the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace
offerings, and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So
the service of the house of Yahweh was set in order. {29:36} Hezekiah
rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God had prepared
for the people: for the thing was done suddenly.
{30:1} Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also
to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Yahweh
at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
{30:2} For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the
assembly in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month.
{30:3} For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests
had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the
people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. {30:4} The thing was
right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly. {30:5} So they
established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from
Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to
Yahweh, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: for they had not kept it in
great numbers in such sort as it is written. {30:6} So the posts went
with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel
and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, You
children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel, that he may return to the remnant that have escaped of you
out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. {30:7} Don't be you like your
fathers, and like your brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the
God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you
see. {30:8} Now don't you be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; but
yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has
sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger
may turn away from you. {30:9} For if you turn again to Yahweh, your
brothers and your children shall find compassion before those who led
them captive, and shall come again into this land: for Yahweh your God
is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if
you return to him. {30:10} So the posts passed from city to city
through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun: but they
ridiculed them, and mocked them. {30:11} Nevertheless certain men of
Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to
Jerusalem. {30:12} Also on Judah came the hand of God to give them one
heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the
word of Yahweh. {30:13} There assembled at Jerusalem much people to
keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great
assembly. {30:14} They arose and took away the altars that were in
Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast
them into the brook Kidron. {30:15} Then they killed the Passover on
the fourteenth [day] of the second month: and the priests and the
Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt
offerings into the house of Yahweh. {30:16} They stood in their place
after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the
priests sprinkled the blood [which they received] of the hand of the
Levites. {30:17} For there were many in the assembly who had not
sanctified themselves: therefore the Levites had the charge of killing
the Passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to
Yahweh. {30:18} For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim
and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet
did they eat the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah
had prayed for them, saying, The good Yahweh pardon everyone {30:19}
who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, though
not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary. {30:20}
Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. {30:21} The
children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of
unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and
the priests praised Yahweh day by day, [singing] with loud instruments
to Yahweh. {30:22} Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites who
had good understanding [in the service] of Yahweh. So they ate
throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace
offerings, and making confession to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
{30:23} The whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days; and
they kept [other] seven days with gladness. {30:24} For Hezekiah king
of Judah did give to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and
seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand
bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified
themselves. {30:25} All the assembly of Judah, with the priests and
the Levites, and all the assembly who came out of Israel, and the
foreigners who came out of the land of Israel, and who lived in Judah,
rejoiced. {30:26} So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the
time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like
in Jerusalem. {30:27} Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed
the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his
holy habitation, even to heaven.
___
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