The army of Judah captured another 10,000 prisoners and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down from there where they all were dashed to pieces.

But Amaziah refused to listen, because the situation was being orchestrated by God in order to turn them over to the control of their enemies because they had pursued those Edomite gods.

So King Joash of Israel went out to battle against King Amaziah of Judah, and they fought at Beth-shemesh, which is part of Judah's territory.

The rest of Amaziah's accomplishments, from first to last, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel, are they not?

From the time that Amaziah abandoned his seeking the LORD, some people conspired against him in Jerusalem, so he ran away to Lachish, but they pursued him to Lachish and killed him there.

They brought him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the city of Judah.

and they opposed King Uzziah. "Uzziah, it's not for you to burn incense to the LORD," they told him, "but for the priests to do, Aaron's descendants who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary now, because you have been unfaithful and won't receive any honor from the LORD God."

So Azariah the chief priest and all the priests stared at Uzziah, who was infected with leprosy in his forehead! They all rushed at him and hurried him out of the Temple. Uzziah was in a hurry to get out anyway, because the LORD had struck him.

Uzziah died, as had his ancestors, and they buried him alongside his ancestors in a grave in a field that belonged to the kings, because they said, "He was a leper." Uzziah's son Jotham became king to replace him.

Remaliah's son Pekah killed 120,000 soldiers in a single day, all of them elite forces, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their ancestors.

The Israelis carried away 200,000 women, sons, and daughters from among their own relatives. They also took a great deal of plunder, and brought it all to Samaria.

Some of the leaders of the descendants of Ephraim, including Johanan's son Azariah, Meshillemoth's son Berechiah, Shallum's son Jehizkiah, and Hadlai's son Amasa, stood up to the army as they were coming back from the battle

After this, some men who were chosen by name took charge of the captives, clothed those who were naked with clothes appropriated from the war booty, gave them clothes and sandals, fed them, gave them something to drink, anointed them with oil, provided those who weren't able to walk with donkeys to ride on, and took them back to their relatives at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

The Philistines also invaded some of the cities in the Shephelah and in the Negev of Judah. They captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, and their surrounding villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages. Then the Philistines settled there,

He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him, reasoning, "The gods of the kings of Aram helped them, so I'll sacrifice to them so they will help me!" But those gods brought about his downfall, and the downfall of all of Israel, too.

So Ahaz died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but they didn't bury him among the tombs of the kings of Israel. Ahaz's son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

"Pay attention to me, you descendants of Levi! Consecrate yourselves and the Temple of the LORD God of your ancestors by taking out from the Holy Place whatever is unclean. Our ancestors have been unfaithful. They practiced what the LORD considers to be evil, abandoned him, turned their faces away from the place where the LORD resides, and turned their backs to him.

They shut the doors to the vestibule of the Temple, extinguished its lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel in the Holy Place.

They also brought together their brothers, consecrated themselves, and proceeded to cleanse the LORD's Temple, just as the king had ordered in accordance with what the LORD had told him.

The priests entered the inner courts of the LORD's Temple to cleanse it, and they brought out everything unclean that they found there to the outer court of the LORD's Temple. Then the descendants of Levi carried everything from there out to the Kidron Valley.

They began their consecration duties on the first day of the first month and finished at the LORD's outer vestibule on the eighth day of the month. Another eight days was used to consecrate the LORD's Temple, so they completed the work on the sixteenth day of the first month.

After this, they went to King Hezekiah and told him, "We have cleansed all of the LORD's Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, all of its utensils, the table of showbread, and all of its utensils.

In addition, we have prepared and rededicated all of the utensils that King Ahaz threw away during his unfaithful reign, and now they're back in service at the LORD's altar."

where they brought seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering on behalf of the kingdom, the Holy Place, and Judah. He ordered that the priests, as descendants of Aaron, place the offerings on the LORD's altar.

So they slaughtered the bulls and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar, and they also slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

They brought the male goats for the sin offering to the king within the assembled gathering, laid their hands on them,

Everybody in the assembly worshipped, the singers sang, and the trumpets sounded. They continued doing this until the burnt offering sacrifice was completed.

King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the descendants of Levi to sing praises to the LORD based on psalms that had been written by David and Asaph the seer. So they all joyfully sang praises, bowed low, and worshipped.

Because there weren't enough priests, they were unable to prepare all the burnt offerings until other priests came forward after having consecrated themselves, so their descendant of Levi relatives assisted them until the services were complete. (The descendants of Levi had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than had been the priests.)

Hezekiah also sent word to all of Israel and Judah, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem to observe the Passover to the LORD God of Israel.

but they had been unable to celebrate it then because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not yet been gathered together in Jerusalem.

so they published a decree that was circulated throughout Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan that they are to come celebrate the Passover to the LORD God of Israel in Jerusalem. The Passover had not been celebrated in great numbers as was being prescribed by the decree.

If you return to the LORD, your relatives and children will receive compassion from those who took them away captive, and they'll return to this land, because the LORD is both gracious and compassionate he will not turn away from you if you return to him."

They all got to work and removed the idolatrous altars that were throughout Jerusalem. They also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Brook.

Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month.

The priests and descendants of Levi felt ashamed of themselves, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the LORD's Temple. Then they took their customary places, as the Law of Moses the man of God prescribes, and the priests sprinkled the blood that they were given by the descendants of Levi.

Because there were so many in the assembly that had not consecrated themselves, therefore the descendants of Levi supervised the slaughter of the Passover sacrifices on behalf of everyone who remained unclean, so they could be consecrated to the LORD.

Even though a large crowd of people from as far away as Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not completed consecrating themselves, they still ate the Passover in a manner not proscribed by the Law, because Hezekiah had prayed like this for them: "May the good LORD extend a pardon on behalf of

Hezekiah encouraged all the descendants of Levi who demonstrated significant insight in their service to the LORD, so they all participated in the festival meals for seven days, all the while sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD God of their ancestors.

After this, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, and so they did and they were very happy to do so!

At the conclusion of all of these activities, everybody in Israel who was in attendance traveled throughout the cities of Judah, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and altars throughout the territories of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh until they had eliminated all of them. Then the people of Israel went back to their cities and back to their work.

Hezekiah also directed the people who lived in Jerusalem to give what was due to the priests and descendants of Levi, so they could be strengthened in the LORD's Law.

As the word spread around, the people of Israel gave generously for the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and all of the produce of the fields. They generously gave a tithe of everything.

As these gifts were given, they were laid in piles. They began to make these piles of gifts during the third month, and it took them until the seventh month to finish.

When Hezekiah and the officials arrived and saw the piles of gifts, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel,

Azariah replied, "Since they began to bring their gifts into the LORD's Temple, we have eaten and have been satisfied. Now we still have plenty left, because the LORD has blessed his people so that we have all of this left over."

Hezekiah gave an order to prepare storerooms in the LORD's Temple, and so they did.

They faithfully brought in the gifts, tithes, and consecrated materials, and Conaniah the descendant of Levi was placed in charge of them. His brother Shimei was second in command,

These genealogical enrollments also included all of their little children, their wives, and their sons and daughters for the entire assembly, because they were being faithful to consecrating themselves in holiness.

he developed a plan with his commanders and his elite forces to cut off the water supply from the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him to carry it out.

Many people gathered together and plugged up all the springs, along with the stream that flowed through the region. They were thinking to themselves, "Why should the Assyrian kings invade and discover an abundant water supply?"

After this, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his messengers to Jerusalem while he was in the middle of a vigorous attack on Lachish. They delivered this message to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the people of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem:

In doing so, they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings.

Hezekiah died, as had his fathers, and they buried him in the upper part of the tombs of the descendants of David. All of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. But his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

and "I won't let Israel's foothold slip on the land that I've given to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to keep everything that I commanded them in the Law, in the statutes, and in the ordinance through Moses."

The LORD kept on speaking to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention to him,

Now as to the rest of Manasseh's accomplishments, including his prayer to God and what the seers had to say to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, they are included among the Acts of the Kings of Israel.

So Manasseh died, as had his ancestors, and they buried him in his own palace while his son Amon became king in his place.

They tore down the altars of Baals in his presence. He chopped down the incense altars that stood high above them. He broke into pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to dust, and scattered the residue on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

They approached Hilkiah the high priest and delivered to him the money that had been brought into God's Temple that the descendants of Levi and gatekeepers had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, the surviving Israelis, Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

They paid it to the workmen who supervised the LORD's Temple, and the workmen who were employed in the LORD's Temple to supervise restoration and repair of the Temple.

They, in turn, paid the carpenters and builders to purchase quarried stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that previous kings of Judah had let deteriorate.

While they were bringing out the money that had come in as gifts to the LORD's Temple, Hilkiah the priest discovered the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been handed down by Moses.

They've removed the money that was found in the LORD's Temple and have passed it on to the supervisors and the workmen."

So Hilkiah and the others who had received orders from the king went to visit Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Tokhath's son Shallum, grandson of Hasrah. She was the king's wardrobe supervisor, and she lived in Jerusalem's Second Quarter. They asked her about what had happened.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Tell the man who sent you to me, "This is what the LORD says: "Pay attention! I'm bringing evil to visit this place and its inhabitants every single curse written in the book that they've been reading to the King of Judah.

Because they abandoned me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to become angry at everything they're doing, therefore my wrath is about to be poured out on this place, and it won't be quenched.'"'

"Look! I'm going to take you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in your grave in peace so that you won't have to see all the evil that I'm going to bring to this place and to its inhabitants."'" So they all brought back this message to the king.

Josiah also removed all the detestable things from the territories that belonged to the people of Israel, and made everyone who lived in Israel to serve the LORD their God. For the rest of his life, they didn't abandon their quest to follow the LORD God of their ancestors.

Josiah observed the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests poured out the blood that they had received from the lambs while the descendants of Levi flayed the sacrifices.

They set aside in reserve the burnt offerings, so they could distribute them in proportion to the divisions of their ancestral households for presentation by the people to the LORD, as is required by the book of Moses. They did this with respect to the bulls, also.

They roasted the Passover in fire, as required by the ordinances, and boiled the holy things in pots, kettles, and pans, and delivered them quickly to all the people.

Jeremiah sang a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers recite that lamentation about Josiah to this day. In fact, they made singing it an ordinance in Israel, and they are recorded in the Lamentations.

Meanwhile, all the officials who supervised the priests and the people remained unfaithful, following the detestable example of the surrounding nations. They polluted the LORD's Temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

but they mocked God's messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people.

After this, they set fire to God's Temple, demolished the wall around Jerusalem, burned all of its fortified buildings, and destroyed everything of value.

Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon those who survived the executions, and they served him and his descendants until the kingdom of Persia came to power.