He said to them: "Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors! Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!

for our fathers have trespassed, and done that which is evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and forsake him, and turn round their faces from the tabernacle of Jehovah, and give the neck.

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.

Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

They gathered their brothers (fellow Levites) together, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord.

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 they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a purification offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the descendants of Aaron, the priests, to offer [them] on the altar of Yahweh.

And the priests slaughtered them, and they made purification for sin with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel; because for all Israel, said the king, is the burnt-offering and the sin-offering.

And he appointeth the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, by the command of David, and of Gad, seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet, for by the hand of Jehovah is the command, by the hand of His prophets;

Hezekiah ordered the burnt sacrifice to be offered on the altar. As they began to offer the sacrifice, they also began to sing to the Lord, accompanied by the trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel.

And all the assembly are doing obeisance, and the singers singing, and the trumpeters blowing; the whole is till the completion of the burnt-offering.

And as they finished to bring up, the king and all being found with him, bowed and worshiped.

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.

And the number of the burnt-offerings that the assembly have brought in, is seventy oxen, a hundred rams, lambs two hundred; for a burnt-offering to Jehovah are all these.

And also, burnt-offerings are in abundance, with fat of the peace-offerings, and with oblations for the burnt-offering; and the service of the house of Jehovah is established,

Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and to Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast to the Lord God of Israel.

And the thing is right in the eyes of the king, and in the eyes of all the assembly,

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 it of a long time in such sort as it was written.

And the runners go with letters from the hand of the king and his heads, into all Israel and Judah, even according to the command of the king, saying, 'O sons of Israel, turn back unto Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He doth turn back unto the escaped part that is left of you from the hand of the kings of Asshur;

And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.

Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield 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.

For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

The couriers traveled from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but the inhabitants laughed at them and mocked them.

And in Judah the power of God gave them one heart to do the orders of the king and the captains, which were taken as the word of the Lord.

They stood at their accustomed stations, in accordance with the Law of Moses, the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood [which they received] from the hand of the Levites [on the altar].

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 Jehovah pardon every one

everyone whose heart is set to seek God, Yahweh the God of his ancestors, though not according to the cleansing for the sanctuary."

For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the congregation as heave-offering: a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests hallowed themselves.

Everyone in the assembly of Judah rejoiced, as did the priests, the descendants of Levi, and the people who gathered together from throughout Israel, including those who came from the land of Israel and those who lived in Judah.

and there is great joy in Jerusalem; for from the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there is not like this in Jerusalem,

and the priests, the Levites, rise and bless the people, and their voice is heard, and their prayer cometh in to His holy habitation, to the heavens.

When all this was completed, all Israel who had attended went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, to the last one. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own possession.

And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests, and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, as well the priests as the Levites, for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings, to serve and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the courts of Jehovah.

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 the LORD.

And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.

As for the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought a tenth of the cattle and sheep, and a tenth of the dedicated things that were consecrated to the Lord their God. They gathered them into large piles.

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.

And 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 the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.

and they bring in the heave-offering, and the tithe, and the holy things faithfully; and over them is a leader, Conaniah the Levite, and Shimei his brother is second;

Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah served as supervisors under Conaniah and his brother Shimei, who had been appointed by King Hezekiah. Azariah served as senior officer of God's Temple.

And Kore son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east, is over the willing-offerings of God, to give the heave-offering of Jehovah, and the most holy things.

And next him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set office, to give to their brethren by courses, as well to the great as to the small:

besides them that were reckoned by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even every one that entered into the house of Jehovah, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their courses;

as well as the priests who were enrolled in the genealogies according to their ancestral households.

to those registered by genealogy—with all their infants, wives, sons, and daughters—of the whole assembly (for they had faithfully consecrated themselves as holy);

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.

And Hezekiah doth thus in all Judah, and doth that which is good, and that which is right, and that which is true, before Jehovah his God;

Everything that Hezekiah began in the service of God's Temple was done according to the Law and to the commandments as he sought his God, worked with all of his heart, and became successful.

And Hezekiah seeth that Sennacherib hath come, and his face is to the battle against Jerusalem,

and much people are gathered, and they stop all the fountains and the brook that is rushing into the midst of the land, saying, 'Why do the kings of Asshur come, and have found much water?'

And he strengtheneth himself, and buildeth the whole of the wall that is broken, and causeth it to ascend unto the towers, and at the outside of the wall another, and strengtheneth Millo, in the city of David, and maketh darts in abundance, and shields.

Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

After this hath Sennacherib king of Asshur sent his servants to Jerusalem -- and he is by Lachish, and all his power with him -- against Hezekiah king of Judah, and against all Judah, who are in Jerusalem, saying,

“This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you relying on that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?

Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Is it not, the same Hezekiah, who hath removed his high places, and his altars, - and hath given word to Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Before one altar, shall ye bow yourselves down, and, thereupon, shall ye burn incense?

Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto 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?

Who is there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers have utterly destroyed, that was able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?

'And, now, let not Hezekiah lift you up, nor persuade you thus, nor give credence to him, for no god of any nation and kingdom is able to deliver his people from my hand, and from the hand of my fathers: also, surely your God doth not deliver you from my hand!'

He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.

His spokesmen shouted these things out with loud voices in the language of Judah to frighten and terrify the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the city walls, to make it easier to conquer the city.

And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man.

And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.

So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords.

That's how the LORD delivered Hezekiah, as well as those who lived in Jerusalem, from Assyria's King Sennacherib and all his forces, and provided for all of their needs.

and many are bringing in an offering to Jehovah, to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, and he is lifted up before the eyes of all the nations after this.

and Hezekiah hath not returned according to the deed done unto him, for his heart hath been lofty, and there is wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem;

and Hezekiah is humbled for the loftiness of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the wrath of Jehovah hath not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

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.

A son of twelve years is Manasseh in his reigning, and fifty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem;

But he practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by behaving detestably, as did the nations whom the LORD expelled in front of the Israelis.

And he hath built altars in the house of Jehovah of which Jehovah had said, 'In Jerusalem is My name to the age.'

He made his sons pass through the fire [as an offering to his gods] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, and practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

and he set a resemblance-image which he had made, - in the house of God, as to which God had said unto David, and unto Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name, unto times age-abiding.

This is how Manasseh deceived Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to practice more evil than the nations whom the LORD had eliminated in front of the Israelis.

And when he is in distress he hath appeased the face of Jehovah his God, and is humbled exceedingly before the God of his fathers,

and prayeth unto Him, and He is entreated of him, and heareth his supplication, and bringeth him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom, and Manasseh knoweth that Jehovah -- He is God.

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 also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

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.

A son of twenty and two years is Amon in his reigning, and two years he hath reigned in Jerusalem,

But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;

And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

But the people of the land executed all of the conspirators against King Amon and installed his son Josiah as king to succeed him.

A son of eight years is Josiah in his reigning, and thirty and one years he hath reigned in Jerusalem,

and he doth that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walketh in the ways of David his father, and hath not turned aside -- right or left.

And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around,

And they come in unto Hilkiah the high priest, and they give the money that is brought in to the house of God, that the Levites, keeping the threshold, have gathered from the hand of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors [were] appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And [other] Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song,

also over the burden-bearers, and such as took the lead, for everyone who was working in any manner of service, - and, of the Levites, were scribes and officers and doorkeepers.

And in their bringing out the money that is brought in to the house of Jehovah, hath Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah by the hand of Moses,

Shaphan took the book to the king and gave an additional report to the king, telling him "Everything that you've entrusted to your servants is being carried out.

and they pour out the money that is found in the house of Jehovah, and give it into the hand of those appointed, and into the hands of those doing the work.'

And the king, hearing the words of the law, took his robe in his hands, violently parting it as a sign of his grief.

And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,

Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.

And Hilkiah goeth, and they of the king, unto Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments, and she is dwelling in Jerusalem in the Second, and they speak unto her thus.