Study Desk

But one of the Lord 's prophets named Oded was there. Oded met the Israelite army that came back to Samaria. He said to the Israelite army, "The Lord , the God your ancestors worshiped, let you defeat the people of Judah because he was angry with them. But now he is angry with you, because he has seen how cruel you were in killing them.

And now you plan to keep the people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves. But you are as guilty as they are for sinning against the Lord your God.

In every town in Judah Ahaz made high places for burning incense to worship other gods. Ahaz made the Lord , the God his ancestors obeyed, very angry.

Hezekiah called the priests and Levites together in one assembly. He had a meeting with them in the courtyard on the east side of the Temple. Hezekiah said to them, "Listen to me, Levites! Make yourselves ready for holy service. Make the Temple of the Lord God ready for holy service. He is the God your ancestors obeyed. Take away the things from the Temple that don't belong in there. These things make the Temple unclean.

They shut the doors of the porch of the Temple and let the fire go out in the lamps. They stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel.

So now I, Hezekiah, have decided to make an agreement with the Lord , the God of Israel. Then he will not be angry with us anymore.

During the time that Ahaz was king, he rebelled against God. He threw away many of the things that were in the Temple. But we repaired all those things and made them ready for their special use. They are now in front of the Lord 's altar."

Then the priests brought the male goats in front of the king, and the people gathered together. The goats were the sin offering. The priests put their hands on the goats and killed the goats. They made a sin offering with the goats' blood on the altar. They did this so that God would forgive the sins of the Israelites. The king said that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all the Israelites.

King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to give praise to the Lord . They sang songs that David and Asaph the seer had written. They praised God and became happy. They all bowed and worshiped God.

Hezekiah and the people were very happy about the things God prepared for his people. And they were happy he did it so quickly!

King Hezekiah sent messages to all the people of Israel and Judah. He wrote letters to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh also. He invited all these people to come to the Lord 's Temple in Jerusalem so that they all could celebrate the Passover for the Lord , the God of Israel.

So they sent the announcement throughout Israel, from the town of Beersheba all the way to the town of Dan. They told the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the Lord , the God of Israel. Not many people had been celebrating it as it was described in the law.

So the messengers took the king's letters all through Israel and Judah. This is what the letters said: "Children of Israel, turn back to the Lord , the God who Abraham, Isaac, and Israel obeyed. Then God will come back to you who are still alive and have escaped from the kings of Assyria.

Don't be like your fathers or your brothers. The Lord was their God, but they turned against him. So he made people hate them and speak evil about them. You can see with your own eyes that this is true.

Don't be stubborn as your ancestors were. But obey the Lord with a willing heart. Come to the Temple that he has made to be holy forever. Serve the Lord your God. Then his fearful anger will turn away from you.

If you come back and obey the Lord , your relatives and your children will find mercy from the people who captured them. And your relatives and your children will come back to this land. The Lord your God is kind and merciful. He will not turn away from you if you come back to him."

They took their regular places in the Temple as described in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood to the priests. Then the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar.

Many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not prepared themselves in the right way for the Passover Festival. They did not celebrate the Passover the right way, as the Law of Moses says. But Hezekiah prayed for the people. So he said this prayer, " Lord God, you are good. These people sincerely wanted to worship you in the right way, but they did not make themselves clean as the law says. Please forgive these people. You are the Lord , the God our ancestors worshiped. Forgive them, even if some did not make themselves clean as the rules of the Most Holy Place say."

King Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who understood very well how to do the service of the Lord . The people celebrated the festival for seven days and offered fellowship offerings. They gave thanks and praise to the Lord , the God of their ancestors.

The priests and the Levites stood up and asked God to bless the people, and he heard them. Their prayer came up to heaven, the holy place where he lives.