Study Desk

Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD; SO they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

But the priests were too few, so that they could not slay all the burnt offerings; therefore their brethren, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished, and after this the priests sanctified themselves; for the Levites were meek in their hearts to sanctify themselves more than the priests.

And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and of the lambs for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.

So they confirmed a decree to carry it out; and they made a proclamation throughout all Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan that they should come to celebrate the passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem; for they were exceedingly rich.

So the couriers went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and by the command of the king, saying, O you children of Israel, turn again to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hands of the king of Assyria.

And be not like your fathers and like your brethren who trespassed against the LORD God of our fathers so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see.

So the couriers of King Hezekiah passed from village to village throughout the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulun;

So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

And when Hezekiah and the princes saw that the tithe of the priests was so abundant, they blessed the LORD and prayed for Israel.

So there was gathered a great multitude of the people of Israel together, who concealed all the fountains and the great brooks that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Lest the king of Assyria come and find much water.

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 many of the children of Israel brought gifts to the LORD to Jerusalem, and gave presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted before all nations.

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.

So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go astray and to do evil works like the nations which the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house, in the garden of the treasury; and Arnon his son reigned in his stead.

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon and Naphtali, in their streets round about.

So Hilkiah and those whom the king had appointed, went to Huldi the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Hisdah the keeper of the vessels (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in meditation) and they spoke to her according to the kings command.

And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, SO shall you say to him: Thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which you have heard:

Therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants. So they brought back the word to the king.