Study Desk

And there hath been there a prophet of Jehovah (Oded [is] his name), and he goeth out before the host that hath come in to Samaria, and saith to them, `Lo, in the fury of Jehovah God of your fathers against Judah, He hath given them into your hand, and ye slay among them in rage -- unto the heavens it hath come;

And in the time of his distress -- he addeth to trespass against Jehovah, (this king Ahaz),

And in every city and city of Judah he hath made high places to make perfume to other gods, and provoketh Jehovah, God of his fathers.

And the rest of his matters, and all his ways, the first and the last, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And Ahaz lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the city, in Jerusalem, but have not brought him in to the graves of the kings of Israel, and reign doth Hezekiah his son in his stead.

Hezekiah hath reigned -- a son of twenty and five years, and twenty and nine years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Abijah daughter of Zechariah;

and he doth that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father did.

He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, hath opened the doors of the house of Jehovah, and strengtheneth them,

`Now -- with my heart -- to make a covenant before Jehovah, God of Israel, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from us.

and all the vessels that king Ahaz cast away in his reign -- in his trespass -- we have prepared and sanctified, and lo, they [are] before the altar of Jehovah.'

And he appointeth the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, by the command of David, and of Gad, seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet, for by the hand of Jehovah [is] the command, by the hand of His prophets;

And the king taketh counsel, and his heads, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to make the passover in the second month,

And the runners go with letters from the hand of the king and his heads, into all Israel and Judah, even according to the command of the king, saying, `O sons of Israel, turn back unto Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He doth turn back unto the escaped part that is left of you from the hand of the kings of Asshur;

`Now, harden not your neck like your fathers, give a hand to Jehovah, and come in to His sanctuary, that He hath sanctified to the age, and serve Jehovah your God, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from you;

who hath prepared his heart to seek God -- Jehovah, God of his fathers -- yet not according to the cleansing of the sanctuary;'

and the priests, the Levites, rise and bless the people, and their voice is heard, and their prayer cometh in to His holy habitation, to the heavens.

And at the completion of all this, gone out have all Israel who are found present to the cities of Judah, and break the standing-pillars, and cut down the shrines, and break down the high places and the altars, out of all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, even to completion, and all the sons of Israel turn back, each to his Possession, to their cities.

And Hezekiah appointeth the courses of the priests, and of the Levites, by their courses, each according to his service, of the priests and of the Levites, for burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to give praise in the gates of the camps of Jehovah.

And a portion of the king, from his substance, [is] for burnt-offerings, for burnt-offerings of the morning, and of the evening, and the burnt-offerings of sabbaths, and of new moons, and of appointed seasons, as it is written in the law of Jehovah.

And Hezekiah and the heads come in and see the heaps, and bless Jehovah and His people Israel,