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.

Nevertheless, Edom revolted against Judah's rule and set up their own king to rule them during Jehoram's reign.

"This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: "You haven't lived like your father Jehoshaphat and like King Asa of Judah. Instead, you have lived like the kings of Israel by causing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit cultic sexual immorality just like Ahab's dynasty did! And you've killed your brothers who were better than you your own father's dynasty!

"Tell Solomon's son Rehoboam, king of Judah and all of Israel in Judah and Benjamin:

During the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and interdicted Ramah by building fortifications around it so no one could enter or leave to join King Asa of Judah.

The residents of Jerusalem made Jehoram's son Ahaziah king in his place after the raiding party that had invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all of the older sons. That's how Jehoram's son Ahaziah became king of Judah.

And that's exactly what happened. While Jehu was punishing Ahab's dynasty, he located the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers who were ministering to Ahaziah, and he put them to death.

Encouraged by what Oded's son Azariah the prophet had said in his prophecy, Asa removed the detestable idols from throughout the entire territories of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the LORD's altar that stood in front of the vestibule of the LORD's Temple.

so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that he had received at Ramah in the battle against King Hazael of Aram. King Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoram's son, went to visit Ahab's son Joram, because he was wounded.

Then the king went up to the LORD's Temple, accompanied by the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and descendants of Levi, and everyone else from the most important to the least important, and he read out loud all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the LORD's Temple.

King Neco of Egypt installed Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim as king over Judah and Jerusalem, changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim, and took his brother Joahaz back to Egypt.

At the beginning of the next year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, along with valuable articles from the LORD's Temple, and he installed Jehoiachin's relative Zedekiah as king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Now the rest of Hezekiah's accomplishments and his faithful deeds are recorded in the vision of Amoz's son Isaiah the prophet, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

and the tribe of Judah assembled together to seek the LORD. People came from all of the cities of Judah to seek the LORD.

In addition to all of this, he built high places in the mountains of Judah, led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into cultic sexual immorality, and made Judah go astray.

They traveled throughout Judah and gathered together the descendants of Levi from all the cities of Judah, along with the Israeli family leaders.

Amaziah gathered Judah together and organized them according to their ancestral households under commanders of thousands and hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered an army from those who were 20 years old and older. He discovered that there were 300,000 elite soldiers qualified for war duty and capable of handling spears and shields.

Then the army of Judah sounded a war cry, and God routed Jeroboam and the entire army of Israel in front of Abijah and Judah.

When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah.

by placing troops in all of the fortified citadels through Judah and by establishing garrisons throughout the land of Judah and in the cities that his father Asa had captured.

They taught throughout Judah from a copy of the Book of the Law of the LORD that they took with them as they passed through all the cities of Judah, teaching among all the people.

because the LORD was humiliating Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, since Ahaz had brought about a lack of restraint within Judah and had remained unfaithful to the LORD.

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.

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.

The descendants of Israel and Judah who lived throughout the cities of Judah also brought tithes of cattle and sheep, as well as tithes of gifts that had been dedicated to the LORD their God.

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: