Uzziah made towers in Jerusalem, at the doorway in the angle and at the doorway in the valley and at the turn of the wall, arming them.

And Uzziah had all these forces armed with body-covers and spears and head-covers and coats of metal and bows and stones for sending from leather bands.

And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.

Then Uzziah was angry; and he had in his hand a vessel for burning perfume; and while his wrath was bitter against the priests, the mark of the leper's disease came out on his brow, before the eyes of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of perfumes.

And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looking at him, saw the mark of the leper on his brow, and they sent him out quickly and he himself went out straight away, for the Lord's punishment had come on him.

He put up the higher doorway of the house of the Lord, and did much building on the wall of the Ophel.

So Jotham became strong, because in all his ways he made the Lord his guide.

Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, in one day put to death a hundred and twenty thousand men of Judah, all of them good fighting-men; because they had given up the Lord, the God of their fathers.

And said to them, You are not to let these prisoners come here; for what you are designing to do will be a cause of sin against the Lord to us, making even greater our sin and our wrongdoing, which now are great enough, and his wrath is burning against Israel.

And those men who have been named went up and took the prisoners, clothing those among them who were uncovered, with things from the goods which had been taken in the war, and putting robes on them and shoes on their feet; and they gave them food and drink and oil for their bodies, and seating all the feeble among them on asses, they took them to Jericho, the town of palm-trees, to their people, and then went back to Samaria.

And the Philistines, forcing their way into the towns of the lowlands and the south of Judah, had taken Beth-shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth and Soco, with their daughter-towns, as well as Timnah and Gimzo and their daughter-towns, and were living there.

For the Lord made Judah low, because of Ahaz, king of Israel; for he had given up all self-control in Judah, sinning greatly against the Lord.

For he made offerings to the gods of Damascus, who were attacking him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Aram are giving them help, I will make offerings to them so that they may give me help. But they were the cause of his downfall, and of that of all Israel.

And Ahaz got together the vessels of the house of God, cutting up all the vessels of the house of God, and shutting the doors of the Lord's house; and he made altars in every part of Jerusalem.

Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, We have made all the house of the Lord clean, as well as the altar of burned offerings with all its vessels, and the table for the holy bread, with all its vessels.

And all the vessels which were turned out by King Ahaz in his sin while he was king, we have put in order and made holy, and now they are in their places before the altar of the Lord.

And the priests put them to death, and made a sin-offering with their blood on the altar, to take away the sin of all Israel: for the king gave orders that the burned offering and the sin-offering were for all Israel.

And Hezekiah gave the word for the burned offering to be offered on the altar. And when the burned offering was started, then the song of the Lord was started, with the blowing of horns and with all the instruments of David, king of Israel.

And all the people gave worship, to the sound of songs and the blowing of horns; and this went on till the burned offering was ended.

And at the end of the offering, the king and all who were present with him gave worship with bent heads.

Then Hezekiah made answer and said, Now that you have given yourselves to the Lord, come near and take offerings and praise-offerings into the house of the Lord. So all the people took in offerings and praise-offerings: and those whose hearts were moved, took in burned offerings.

The number of burned offerings which the people took in was seventy oxen, a hundred male sheep, and two hundred lambs: all these were for burned offerings to the Lord.

There were not enough priests for the work of cutting up all the burned offerings; so their brothers the Levites gave them help till the work was done and the priests had made themselves holy: for the Levites were more upright in heart to make themselves holy than the priests.

And Hezekiah and all the people were full of joy, because God had made the people ready: for the thing was done suddenly.

Then Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah, and sent letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, requesting them to come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.

For the king, after discussion with his chiefs and all the body of the people in Jerusalem, had made a decision to keep the Passover in the second month.

And the thing was right in the eyes of the king and all the people.

So it was ordered that word was to be sent out through all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that they were to come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: because they had not kept it in great numbers in agreement with the law.

So runners went with letters from the king and his chiefs through all Israel and Judah, by the order of the king, saying, O children of Israel, come back again to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may come again to that small band of you which has been kept safe out of the hands of the kings of Assyria.

For if you come back to the Lord, those who took away your brothers and your children will have pity on them, and let them come back to this land: for the Lord your God is full of grace and mercy, and his face will not be turned away from you if you come back to him.

So the runners went from town to town through all the country of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun: but they were laughed at and made sport of.

And they got to work and took away all the altars in Jerusalem, and they put all the vessels for burning perfumes into the stream Kidron.

Who, with all his heart, is turned to God the Lord, the God of his fathers, even if he has not been made clean after the rules of the holy place.

And the Lord gave ear to Hezekiah, and made the people well.

And by the desire of all the people, the feast went on for another seven days, and they kept the seven days with joy.

And all the people of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and those who had come from Israel, and men from other lands who had come from Israel or who were living in Judah, were glad with great joy.

Now when all this was over, all the men of Israel who were present went out into the towns of Judah, causing the stone pillars to be broken up and the wood pillars to be cut down, pulling down the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, till all were gone. Then all the children of Israel went back to their towns, every man to his property.

And when the order was made public, straight away the children of Israel gave, in great amounts, the first-fruits of their grain and wine and oil and honey, and of the produce of their fields; and they took in a tenth part of everything, a great store.

And the children of Israel and Judah, who were living in the towns of Judah came with the tenth part of their oxen and sheep, and a tenth of all the holy things which were to be given to the Lord their God, and put them in great masses.

And when Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw all the store of goods, they gave praise to the Lord and to his people Israel.

And in them they put all the offerings and the tenths and the holy things, keeping nothing back, and over them was Conaniah the Levite, with Shimei his brother second to him.

And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah and Amariah and Shecaniah, in the towns of the priests, who were made responsible for giving it to all their brothers, by divisions, to small and great:

As well as to all the males, of three years old and over, listed by their families, who went into the house of the Lord to do what was needed day by day, for their special work with their divisions.

And in the lists were all their little ones and their wives and their sons and daughters, through all the people: they made themselves holy in the positions which they were given.

And as for the sons of Aaron, the priests, living in the country on the outskirts of their towns, every different town there were men, marked out by name, to give their part of the goods to all the males among the priests, and to all who were listed among the Levites.

This Hezekiah did through all Judah; he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God.

And for everything he undertook, in connection with the work of the house of God and his law and orders, he got directions from God and did it with serious purpose; and things went well for him.

So they got together a great number of people, and had all the water-springs and the stream flowing through the land stopped up, saying, Why let the kings of Assyria come and have much water?

Then he took heart, building up the wall where it was broken down, and making its towers higher, and building another wall outside; and he made strong the Millo in the town of David, and got together a great store of all sorts of instruments of war.

And he put war chiefs over the people, and sent for them all to come together to him in the wide place at the doorway into the town, and to give them heart he said to them,

Be strong and take heart; have no fear, and do not be troubled on account of the king of Assyria and all the great army with him: for there is a greater with us.

After this, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent his servants to Jerusalem (at that time he was stationed with all his army in front of Lachish), to say to Hezekiah and all the men of Judah in Jerusalem,

Is it not Hezekiah who has got you to do it, causing your death from need of food and water, by saying, The Lord our God will give us salvation out of the hands of the king of Assyria?

Have you no knowledge of what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of every land? were the gods of the nations of those lands able to keep their land from falling into my hands?

Who was there among all the gods of those nations, which my fathers put to destruction, who was able to keep his people safe from my hands? and is it possible that your God will keep you safe from my hands?

So do not be tricked by Hezekiah or let him get you to do this, and do not put any faith in what he says: for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to keep his people safe from my hands, or the hands of my fathers: how much less will your God keep you safe from my hands!

And he sent letters, in addition, to put shame on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to say evil against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not been able to keep their people safe from my hands, no more will the God of Hezekiah keep his people safe from my hands.

These things they said, crying out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, with the purpose of troubling them and putting fear into them, so that they might take the town;

And the Lord sent an angel who put to death all the men of war and the chiefs and the captains in the army of the king of Assyria. So he went back to his country in shame. And when he came into the house of his god, his sons, the offspring of his body, put him to death there with the sword.

So the Lord gave Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem salvation from the power of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and from all others, giving them rest on every side.

And great numbers came to Jerusalem with offerings for the Lord, and things of great price for Hezekiah, king of Judah: so that he was honoured among all nations from that time.

In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death; and he made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord in answer gave him a sign.

But then, Hezekiah, in sorrow for what he had done, put away his pride; and he and all Jerusalem made themselves low, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in Hezekiah's life-time.

And Hezekiah had very great wealth and honour; and he made himself store-houses for his gold and silver and jewels and spices, and for body-covers and all sorts of beautiful vessels.

And store-houses for the produce of grain and wine and oil; and buildings for all sorts of beasts and flocks.

It was Hezekiah who had the higher spring of the water of Gihon stopped, and the water taken down on the west side of the town of David. In everything he undertook, Hezekiah did well.

So Hezekiah went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the higher part of the resting-places of the sons of David: and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son became king in his place.

For he put up again the high places which had been pulled down by his father Hezekiah; and he made altars for the Baals, and pillars of wood, and was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven;

And he made altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will my name be for ever.

And he made altars for all the stars of heaven in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord.

And he put the image he had made in the house of God, the house of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

And never again will I let the feet of Israel be moved out of the land which I have given to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, even all the law and the orders and the rules given to them by Moses.

After this he made an outer wall for the town of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, as far as the way into the town by the fish doorway; and he put a very high wall round the Ophel; and he put captains of the army in all the walled towns of Judah.

He took away the strange gods and the image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars he had put up on the hill of the Lord's house and in Jerusalem, and put them out of the town.

And he put the altar of the Lord in order, offering peace-offerings and praise-offerings on it, and said that all Judah were to be servants of the Lord, the God of Israel.

And the prayer which he made to God, and how God gave him an answer, and all his sin and his wrongdoing, and the places where he made high places and put up pillars of wood and images, before he put away his pride, are recorded in the history of the seers.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon made offerings to all the images which his father Manasseh had made, and was their servant.

But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against King Amon, and made his son Josiah king in his place.

In the eighth year of his rule, while he was still young, his heart was first turned to the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he undertook the clearing away of all the high places and the pillars and the images of wood and metal from Judah and Jerusalem.

He had the altars of the Baals broken down, while he himself was present; and the sun-images which were placed on high over them he had cut down; and the pillars of wood and the metal images he had broken up and crushed to dust, dropping the dust over the resting-places of the dead who had made offerings to them.

And in all the towns of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali, he made waste their houses round about.

He had the altars and the pillars of wood pulled down and the images crushed to dust, and all the sun-images cut down, through all the land of Israel, and then he went back to Jerusalem.

And they came to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and gave him all the money which had been taken into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had got from Manasseh and Ephraim and those of Israel who had not been taken away as prisoners, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem.

And the men did the work well; and those who had authority over them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, who were to be responsible for seeing that the work was done; and others of the Levites, who were expert with instruments of music,

Had authority over the transport workers, giving directions to all who were doing any sort of work; and among the Levites there were scribes and overseers and door-keepers.

And Shaphan took the book to the king; and he gave him an account of what had been done, saying, Your servants are doing all they have been given to do;

They have taken out all the money which was in the Lord's house and have given it to the overseers and to the workmen.

These are the words of the Lord: See, I will send evil on this place and on its people, even all the curses in the book which they have been reading before the king of Judah;

Because they have given me up, burning offerings to other gods and moving me to wrath by all the works of their hands; so my wrath is let loose on this place and will not be put out.

See, I will let you go to your fathers, and be put in your last resting-place in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will send on this place and on its people. So they took this news back to the king.

Then the king sent and got together all the responsible men of Judah and of Jerusalem.

And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites and all the people, small and great; and they were present at his reading of the book of the law which had come to light in the house of the Lord.

Then the king, taking his place by the pillar, made an agreement before the Lord, to go in the way of the Lord, and to keep his orders and his decisions and his rules with all his heart and with all his soul, and to keep the words of the agreement recorded in this book.

And he made all the people in Jerusalem and Benjamin give their word to keep it. And the people of Jerusalem kept the agreement of God, the God of their fathers.

Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the lands of the children of Israel, and made all who were in Israel servants of the Lord their God. And as long as he was living they were true to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

And he said to the Levites, the teachers of all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, See, the holy ark is in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, made; it will no longer have to be transported on your backs: now be the servants of the Lord your God and his people Israel,

And Josiah gave lambs and goats from the flock as Passover offerings for all the people who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand oxen: these were from the king's private property.

And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people.