Study Desk

Don't be stiffnecked now, as your ancestors were. Instead, yield yourselves to Adonai ; enter his sanctuary, which he has made holy forever; and serve Adonai your God; so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.

For if you turn back to Adonai , your kinsmen and children will find that those who took them captive will have compassion on them, and they will come back to this land. Adonai your God is compassionate and merciful; he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him."

Also in Y'hudah the hand of God was at work, uniting their hearts to do what the king and the leaders had ordered in accordance with the word of Adonai .

Now they stood at their stations, as prescribed in the Torah of Moshe the man of God; the cohanim splashed the blood given to them by the L'vi'im.

everyone who sets his heart on seeking God, Adonai , the God of his ancestors, even if he hasn't undergone the purification prescribed in connection with holy things."

Hizkiyahu spoke encouragingly to all the L'vi'im who were well skilled in the service of Adonai . Thus they ate throughout the festival for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and giving thanks to Adonai , the God of their ancestors.

The people of Isra'el and Y'hudah living in the cities of Y'hudah also brought the required tenth of oxen and sheep and the required tenth of consecrated gifts that had been dedicated to Adonai their God, and piled them in heaps.

Hizkiyahu the king and ‘Azaryahu the ruler of the house of God appointed Yechi'el, ‘Azazyahu, Nachat, ‘Asah'el, Yerimot, Yozavad, Eli'el, Yismachyah, Machat and B'nayahu as supervisors to serve under Konanyah and Shim‘i his brother.

Kore the son of Yimnah the Levi, gatekeeper at the East Gate, was responsible for the voluntary offerings to God; he had to distribute the offerings made to Adonai and the especially holy gifts.

This is what Hizkiyahu did throughout all Y'hudah. He accomplished things that were good, right and faithful before Adonai his God.

Every project that he undertook in order to seek his God, whether in the service of the house of God or in connection with the Torah and the mitzvot, he did with all his heart; and so he succeeded.

he has human strength, but we have Adonai our God to help us and fight our battles!" The people took heart at the words of Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah.

Hasn't Hizkiyahu deluded you? Isn't he condemning you to death by starvation and thirst when he says, " Adonai our God will save us from the king of Ashur"?

Who of all the gods of those nations that my ancestors completely destroyed was able to rescue his people from me? How then will your God rescue you from me?

Don't let Hizkiyahu mislead you or delude you this way, don't believe him. For no god of any nation or kingdom has ever been able to rescue his people from me or my ancestors; how much less will your God rescue you from me!'"

His envoys kept on speaking against Adonai , God; and against his servant Hizkiyahu.

He also wrote a letter insulting Adonai the God of Isra'el and speaking against him; it said, "Just as the gods of the nations of the other countries could not rescue their people from me, likewise Hizkiyahu's God will not rescue his people from me."

They spoke about the God of Yerushalayim in the same way as about the gods of the other peoples of the earth, which are merely human artifacts.

Then Adonai sent an angel, who cut down the valiant warriors, the leaders and the officers in the king of Ashur's camp, so that he had to return shamefaced to his own country. When he entered the house of his god, his own sons, whom he himself had fathered, put him to death with the sword there.

He provided cities for himself and purchased flocks and herds in abundance, for God had made him extremely wealthy.