have taken captive of your brothers; for the fierce wrath
of Yahweh is on you.
028:012 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,
028:013 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.
028:014 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before
the princes and all the assembly.
028:015 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.
028:016 At that time did king Ahaz send to the kings of Assyria
to help him.
028:017 For again the Edomites had come and struck Judah,
and carried away captives.
028:018 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.
028:019 For Yahweh brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel;
for he had dealt wantonly in Judah, and trespassed
severely against Yahweh.
028:020 Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and distressed him,
but didn't strengthen him.
028:021 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.
028:022 In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against Yahweh,
this same king Ahaz.
028:023 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.
028:024 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.
028:025 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.
028:026 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.
028:027 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.
029:001 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.
029:002 He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to
all that David his father had done.
029:003 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month,
opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, and repaired them.
029:004 He brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them
together into the broad place on the east,
029:005 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.
029:006 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.
029:007 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.
029:008 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.
029:009 For, behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons
and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
029:010 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.
029:011 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.
029:012 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;
029:013 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons
of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
029:014 and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons
of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
029:015 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.
029:016 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.
029:017 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.
029:018 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.
029:019 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.
029:020 Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the princes
of the city, and went up to the house of Yahweh.
029:021 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.
029:022 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.
029:023 They brought near the male goats for the sin offering before
the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them:
029:024 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.
029:025 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.
029:026 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests
with the trumpets.
029:027 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.
029:028 All the assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the
trumpeters sounded; all this [continued] until the burnt
offering was finished.
029:029 When they had made an end of offering, the king and all who
were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped.
029:030 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.
029:031 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.
029:032 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.
029:033 The consecrated things were six hundred oxen and
three thousand sheep.
029:034 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.
029:035 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.
029:036 Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God
had prepared for the people: for the thing was done suddenly.
030:001 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.
030:002 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the assembly
in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month.
030:003 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.
030:004 The thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly.
030:005 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.
030:006 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.
030:007 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.
030:008 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.
030:009 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.
030:010 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.
030:011 Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun
humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
030:012 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.
030:013 There assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast
of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly.
030:014 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.
030:015 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.
030:016 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.
030:017 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.
030:018 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
030:019 who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers,
though not [cleansed] according to the purification
of the sanctuary.
030:020 Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
030:021 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.
030:022 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.
030:023 The whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days;
and they kept [other] seven days with gladness.
030:024 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.
030:025 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.
030:026 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.
030:027 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.
031:001 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went
out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars,
and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places
and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim
also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all.
Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to
his possession, into their own cities.
031:002 Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites
after their divisions, every man according to his service,
both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings
and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks,
and to praise in the gates of the camp of Yahweh.
031:003 [He appointed] also the king's portion of his substance for
the burnt offerings, [to wit], for the morning and evening
burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths,
and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written
in the law of Yahweh.
031:004 Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give
the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might
give themselves to the law of Yahweh.
031:005 As soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel
gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine,
and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field;
and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
031:006 The children of Israel and Judah, who lived in the cities
of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep,
and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated
to Yahweh their God, and laid them by heaps.
031:007 In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps,
and finished them in the seventh month.
031:008 When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps,
they blessed Yahweh, and his people Israel.
031:009 Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites
concerning the heaps.
031:010 Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him
and said, Since [the people] began to bring the offerings
into the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and had enough,
and have left plenty: for Yahweh has blessed his people;
and that which is left is this great store.
031:011 Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Yahweh;
and they prepared them.
031:012 They brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated
things faithfully: and over them Conaniah the Levite was ruler,
and Shimei his brother was second.
031:013 Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth,
and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah,
were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother,
by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the ruler
of the house of God.
031:014 Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter at the east [gate],
was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute
the offerings of Yahweh, and the most holy things.
031:015 Under him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah,
and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their
office of trust, to give to their brothers by divisions,
as well to the great as to the small:
031:016 besides those who were reckoned by genealogy of males,
from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered
into the house of Yahweh, as the duty of every day required,
for their service in their offices according to their divisions;
031:017 and those who were reckoned by genealogy of the priests
by their fathers' houses, and the Levites from twenty years
old and upward, in their offices by their divisions;
031:018 and those who were reckoned by genealogy of all their little ones,
their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all
the congregation: for in their office of trust they sanctified
themselves in holiness.
031:019 Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields
of the suburbs of their cities, in every city, there were men
who were mentioned by name, to give portions to all the males
among the priests, and to all who were reckoned by genealogy
among the Levites.
031:020 Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he worked that
which was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his God.
031:021 In every work that he began in the service of the house of God,
and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God,
he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
032:001 After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king
of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against
the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself.
032:002 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was
purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
032:003 he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop
the waters of the springs which were outside of the city;
and they helped him.
032:004 So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped
all the springs, and the brook that flowed through the midst
of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come,
and find much water?
032:005 He took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down,
and raised [it] up to the towers, and the other wall outside,
and strengthened Millo [in] the city of David, and made
weapons and shields in abundance.
032:006 He set captains of war over the people, and gathered them
together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city,
and spoke comfortably to them, saying,
032:007 Be strong and of good courage, don't be afraid nor dismayed for
the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude who is with him;
for there is a greater with us than with him:
032:008 with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Yahweh our God
to help us, and to fight our battles. The people rested
themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
032:009 After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants
to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power
with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah
who were at Jerusalem, saying,
032:010 Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do you trust,
that you abide the siege in Jerusalem?
032:011 Does not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die
by famine and by thirst, saying, Yahweh our God will deliver
us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
032:012 Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars,
and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, You shall worship
before one altar, and on it shall you burn incense?
032:013 Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples
of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands
in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand?
032:014 Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers
utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand,
that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
032:015 Now therefore don't let Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade
you after this manner, neither believe you him; for no god
of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people
out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers:
how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?
032:016 His servants spoke yet more against Yahweh God, and against
his servant Hezekiah.
032:017 He wrote also letters, to rail on Yahweh, the God of Israel,
and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations
of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of
my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver his people
out of my hand.
032:018 They cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language to the people
of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them,
and to trouble them; that they might take the city.
032:019 They spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples
of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
032:020 Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz,
prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.
032:021 Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor,
and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria.
So he returned with shame of face to his own land.
When he was come into the house of his god, those who came
forth from his own bowels killed him there with the sword.
032:022 Thus Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from
the hand of all [others], and guided them on every side.
032:023 Many brought gifts to Yahweh to Jerusalem, and precious things
to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight
of all nations from thenceforth.
032:024 In those days Hezekiah was sick even to death: and he prayed
to Yahweh; and he spoke to him, and gave him a sign.
032:025 But Hezekiah didn't render again according to the benefit done to him;
for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath on him,
and on Judah and Jerusalem.
032:026 Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart,
both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath
of Yahweh didn't come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
032:027 Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor:
and he provided him treasuries for silver, and for gold,
and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields,
and for all manner of goodly vessels;
032:028 storehouses also for the increase of grain and new wine and oil;
and stalls for all manner of animals, and flocks in folds.
032:029 Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and
herds in abundance; for God had given him very much substance.
032:030 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters
of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side
of the city of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
032:031 However in [the business of] the ambassadors of the princes
of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was
done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know
all that was in his heart.
032:032 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds,