Study Desk

Now do not be stiffnecked as your fathers were, but enter into the sanctuary which he has sanctified for ever, and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

Because he has revealed himself to you, your children, and your brethren; and he shall grant you compassion before those who carry you captive, and shall bring you back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you when you return to him.

Nevertheless the rest of the men of these tribes humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem with the tribe of Judah. And the hand of God was upon them to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of his princes, according to the word of the LORD.

Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people of Israel; and the LORD heard their voice, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even to heaven.

NOW when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces and cut down the leopard statues and demolished the shrines and the altars that were in Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then the Israelites returned, every man to his possession; and they entered in peace into their own cities.

And Hezekiah appointed the times of serving of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, every man according to his service, the priests and the Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the temple of the LORD.

And the king gave of his own substance oxen 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 he called for Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok and said to him, This tithe is ready for you, to be eaten, because it has been brought into the house of the LORD, now you can eat and be filled, and what is left of it, give it to the poor and to the fatherless, for the LORD has blessed his people and has given them this abundance. And what is left, give it to all the people of Israel.

And they brought in the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully; over them Cononiah the Levite was overseer and Shimei his brother was the next.

And Nehiel, Uzziah, Nahath, Ashail, Jerimoth, Jozabar, Eliel, Ismachiah, Matah, Benaiah, and Shemiah his brother were overseers under the hand of Cononiah, at the command of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of the LORD.

And in every work that he began to do in the house of the LORD, and in the law and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib king of Assyria and his armies had come to fight against Jerusalem,

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

After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent Rab-shakey together with his servants, and they came to Jerusalem (but he himself was besieging Lachish, and all his commanders with him) to all the people of Judah that were in Jerusalem, saying,

Has not the same Hezekiah removed his high places and altars, and commanded Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, You shall worship before one altar and burn incense upon it?

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

And his servants spoke these things before the LORD God of Israel and in the presence of his servant Hezekiah.

And he wrote letters to revile the LORD God of Israel, and to speak to the people of Israel, saying, As the gods of the nations of these lands were unable to deliver their cities out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah be able to deliver his city out of my hand.

And the LORD sent an angel from before him, who smote all the mighty men of valour and the kings and the princes who were in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his own land. And when he came into the house of his gods, his sons, who came forth of his own loins, slew him there with the sword.

And the sickness of Hezekiah was due to the pride of his heart; therefore the wrath of the LORD came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.