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Furthermore, he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from the sons of Israel.

Therefore the LORD his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties.

and said to them, "You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the LORD, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel."

Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.

In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.

Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

So Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that his father David had done.

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.

"Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, so that His burning anger may turn away from us.

"My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense."

"Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz had discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness, we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of the LORD."

He then stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad, the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the LORD through His prophets.

For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month,

The couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his princes, even according to the command of the king, saying, "Sons of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped and are left from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

"Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the LORD and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you.

"For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will find compassion in the presence of those who led them captive, and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."

everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary."

Then the Levitical priests stood and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.