brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD isupon you.
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 them that came from the war,
13 And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended
against the LORD already, ye intend to add moreto our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass
is great, and there isfierce wrath against Israel.
14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation.
15 And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the
spoil clothed all that 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 upon asses, and
brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to
Samaria.
16 At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
17 For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and
had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and
Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there.
19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and
transgressed sore against the LORD.
20 And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened
him not.
21 For Ahaz took away a portion outof the house of the LORD, and outof the house of the king,
and of the princes, and gave itunto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.
22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is thatking
Ahaz.
23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods
of the kings of Syria help them, thereforewill I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But
they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
24 And 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 the LORD, and he made him altars in
every corner of Jerusalem.
25 And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and
provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
26 Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they arewritten in the
book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, evenin Jerusalem: but they
brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his
stead.
1 Hezekiah began to reign when he wasfive and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and
twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name wasAbijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 And he did that which wasright in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his
father had done.
3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the
LORD, and repaired them.
4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east
street,
5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of
the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.

6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which wasevil in the eyes of the LORD our
God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD,
and turned theirbacks.
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 placeunto the God of Israel.
8 Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them
to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
9 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives
arein captivity for this.
10 Now it isin mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce
wrath may turn away from us.
11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve
him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.
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 Jehalelel:
and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:
13 And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and
Mattaniah:
14 And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and
Uzziel.
15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the
commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.
16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought
out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of
the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry itout abroad into the brook Kidron.
17 Now they began on the first dayof the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the
month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight
days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the
LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table,
with all the vessels thereof.
19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression,
have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they arebefore the altar of the LORD.
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the
house of the LORD.
21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a
sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the
priests the sons of Aaron to offer themon the altar of the LORD.
22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled iton the altar:
likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also
the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
23 And they brought forth the he goats forthe sin offering before the king and the
congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to
make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded thatthe burnt offering and the sin
offering should be madefor all Israel.
25 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with
harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the
prophet: for so wasthe commandment of the LORD by his prophets.

26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt
offering began, the song of the LORD began alsowith the trumpets, and with the instruments
ordainedby David king of Israel.
28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and
all this continueduntil the burnt offering was finished.
29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him
bowed themselves, and worshipped.
30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the
LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and
they bowed their heads and worshipped.
31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come
near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation
brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.
32 And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and
ten bullocks, an hundred rams, andtwo hundred lambs: all these werefor a burnt offering to the
LORD.
33 And the consecrated things weresix hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.
34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore
their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the otherpriests
had sanctified themselves: for the Levites weremore upright in heart to sanctify themselves
than the priests.
35 And also the burnt offerings werein abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the
drink offerings for everyburnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in
order.
36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing
was donesuddenly.
1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh,
that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the
LORD God of Israel.
2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep
the passover in the second month.
3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves
sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
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 unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for
they had not done itof a long time in such sortas it was written.
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, Ye children of Israel, turn again
unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that
are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD
God of their fathers, whotherefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, butyield yourselves unto the LORD, and
enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that
the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
9 For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall findcompassion
before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD