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For the sons of Aaron the priest were holy, their flesh was holy, and they never touched women; and they went about in every village and suburb, men whose names were well known, to give portions to all the males among the priests and to all that were reckoned by the genealogies among the Levites.

Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed in the presence of the king of Assyria, nor in the presence of all the armies that have come with him; for there is more with us than with him:

Now therefore do not let Hezekiah deceive you nor make you to trust in this, and do not believe him; for your God will not be able to deliver you out of my hand; for all nations and kingdoms have not been able to deliver their cities out of my hand, and out of the hands of my fathers; your God also will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

In those days Hezekiah was sick to death, and he prayed before the LORD and said, Thou hast performed mighty miracles for me and thou hast rewarded me according to the works of my hands.

But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

And Hezekiah had exceeding great wealth and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for shields and for all manner of pleasant vessels;

Storehouses also for the increase of grain and wine and oil; and stalls for all kinds of beasts;

And folds for herds and for flocks, and for oxen and other beasts; for the LORD had given him very much substance.

This same Hezekiah also buried the outlet for the waters of the upper spring and brought it straight down to the western cistern of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

For he built again the altars which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he built shrines for the idols and made images of leopards, and worshipped them.

And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

And he set the image of the idol which had four faces, which he had made, in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen for myself out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever;

His prayer, also, and how the LORD heard his voice, and all his sins and his iniquity, and the places on which he built altars and appointed priests, and the shrines he built for the idols, behold, they are written among the sayings of Hanan the prophet.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done; for Arnon sacrificed to all the images and idols which Manasseh his father had made and worshipped them;

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a little boy, he began to pray to the LORD the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Moreover he began to demolish altars, idols, carved images, and idol temples,

And the decorations, necklaces, bells, and all the trees that were made for idols, he broke in pieces and ground them to dust and scattered their ashes upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land of Israel and his own house, he sent for Shaphan the son of Azaliah and Maasiah the scribe of the city, and said to them, Go, repair the house of the LORD your God.

And they gave it also to the carpenters and to the masons and to those who bought precious stones and timber for the repairing and for the plastering of the house which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

And they have spent the money for the repair of the house of the LORD, and have given account to the overseers and to the workmen.

Go, pray before the LORD for me and for the people of Israel and Judah concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of the LORD to do after all that is written concerning us in this book.