Study Desk

He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, 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, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.

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

And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for [so was] the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.

For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.

So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you that have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.

Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers [were], [but] yield yourselves to the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

For if ye turn again to the LORD, your brethren and your children [will find] compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they will return into this land: for the LORD your God [is] gracious and merciful, and will not turn away [his] face from you, if ye return to him.

[That] prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though [he is] not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary.

Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer ascended to his holy dwelling-place, [even] to heaven.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel [that were] present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, 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.

And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt-offerings and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the LORD.

[He appointed] also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt-offerings, [to wit], 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 when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD, and his people Israel.

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since [the people] began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left [is] this great abundance.

And brought in the offerings and the tithes, and the dedicated [things] faithfully: over which Conaniah the Levite [was] ruler, and Shimei his brother [was] the next.

And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, [were] overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.

Besides their genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, [even] to every one that entereth into the house of the LORD, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses;

And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and performed [that which was] good and right and truth before the LORD his God.

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