But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and killed three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

And it came to pass, as he spake unto him, that he said to him, To be, counselor to the king, have we appointed thee? forbear thou, wherefore should they smite thee? So the prophet forbare, and said - I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.

But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

And Judah was defeated by Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.

And Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah the king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-Shemesh. And they brought him [to] Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?

Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

And all the people will take Uzziah, and he the son of sixteen years, and they will make him king instead of his father Amaziah.

Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official.

They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend the king against his enemies.

And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It belongs not unto you, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither shall it be for your honor from the LORD God.

And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from there; yea, he himself hastened also to go out, because the LORD had struck him.

So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

He waged war against the king of the Ammonites. He overpowered the Ammonites, and that year they gave him 7,500 pounds of silver, 50,000 bushels of wheat, and 50,000 bushels of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years.

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

And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they defeated him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with a great slaughter.

For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, who were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.

Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their brothers—women, sons, and daughters. They also took a great deal of plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.

Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there. He went to meet the army as they arrived in Samaria and said to them: "Look, because the Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah he handed them over to you. You have killed them so mercilessly that God has taken notice.

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

They said to them, “You must not bring the captives here, for you plan to bring guilt on us from the Lord to add to our sins and our guilt. For we have much guilt, and burning anger is on Israel.”

So the armed men gave up the prisoners and the goods they had taken to the heads and the meeting of the people.

And the men who were mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and dressed them, and gave them sandals, and gave them food and drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

And yet the Edomites came and they will strike in Judah, and take captive a captivity.

The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, and Timnah with its villages, Gimzo also and its villages: and they dwelt there.

For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

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

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

For our fathers were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the Lord’s tabernacle, and turned their backs on Him.

Also they have shut up the doors of the vestibule, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.

And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to the brook Kidron.

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 vestibule of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its utensils, and the showbread table, with all its utensils.

Moreover all the utensils, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.

And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven male goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

And they brought forth the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:

And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

And they set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, psalteries and harps according to the commandments of David and of Gad the king's seer of visions and of Nathan the prophet. For so was the commandment of the LORD through 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.

The entire assembly worshiped, as the singers sang and the trumpeters played. They continued until the burnt sacrifice was completed.

And when they had finished offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshiped.

Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

And beside that they dedicated six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings: therefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel.

For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.

So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba 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 for a long time in the way in which it was written.

And be ye not like your fathers and your brethren which trespassed against the LORD of your fathers, which therefore gave them up that they are wasted, as ye see.

For if you 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 you return unto him.

So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.

But men from Asher and Manasseh, and from Zebulon, were humbled, and they will come to Jerusalem.

And 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.

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 in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

And they stood in their place according to their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received from the hand of the Levites.

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.

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 contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon everyone

who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, even if they aren't clean according to the purification of the sanctuary."

And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.

And the whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days: and they kept another seven days with gladness.

For Hezekiah king of Judah gave for heave offerings to the congregation a thousand oxen and seven thousand sheep. And the lords gave to the congregation for heave offerings a thousand oxen and ten thousand sheep. And the priests sanctified themselves, that they were enough.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the sacred pillars in pieces, and cut down the idol poles, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.

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

And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps.

In the third month they began laying them in heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.

And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD, and his people Israel.

Azariah, the chief priest of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began bringing the offering to the Lord’s temple, we eat and are satisfied and there is plenty left over because the Lord has blessed His people; this abundance is what is left over.”

Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them,

Then they brought the offerings and tithes and holy objects faithfully. And over them [as] leader [was] Conaniah the Levite. And Shimei his brother [was] second [in rank].

In addition, they distributed it to males registered by genealogy three years old and above; to all who would enter the Lord’s temple for their daily duty, for their service in their responsibilities according to their divisions.

They distributed also to those recorded by genealogy of the priests by their ancestral families and the Levites 20 years old and above, by their responsibilities in their divisions;

And to all enrolled by genealogy, their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in holiness:

He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city: and they did help him.

Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land; they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?”

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:

Then they cried with a loud voice in the language of Judah unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to frighten them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city.

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

Then King Hezekiah and Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, prayed concerning this. And they cried to the heavens.

And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the princes and the captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels made him fall there with the sword.

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.

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper sepulchers of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; if only they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.

So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

So He brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.

His prayer also, and how God received his entreaty, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up idol poles and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.

So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

And his servants will conspire against him, and they will kill him in his house.

The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the idol poles, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and scattered it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.

And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.

And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that worked in the house of the LORD, to repair and restore the house:

Even to the craftsmen and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for beams, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that did the work in any kind of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and gatekeepers.