Study Desk

Jehoash sent back a reply that said: Once upon a time, a small thornbush in Lebanon arranged the marriage between his son and the daughter of a large cedar tree. But a wild animal came along and trampled the small bush.

Amaziah, you think you're so powerful because you defeated Edom. But stay at home and do your celebrating. If you cause any trouble, both you and your kingdom of Judah will be destroyed.

As soon as Amaziah started disobeying the Lord , some people in Jerusalem plotted against Amaziah. He was able to escape to the town of Lachish, but another group of people caught him and killed him there.

Jotham obeyed the Lord and did right. He followed the example of his father Uzziah, except he never burned incense in the temple as his father had done. But the people of Judah kept sinning against the Lord .

Oded lived in Samaria and was one of the Lord 's prophets. He met Israel's army on their way back from Judah and said to them: The Lord God of your ancestors let you defeat Judah's army only because he was angry with them. But you should not have been so cruel!

But God was punishing Judah with these disasters, because Ahaz had disobeyed him and refused to stop Judah from sinning.

So Tiglath Pileser came to Judah, but instead of helping, he made things worse.

Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. His son Hezekiah then became king.

Some of our ancestors were unfaithful and disobeyed the Lord our God. Not only did they turn their backs on the Lord , but they also completely ignored his temple.

our ancestors killed in battle, but our own children and wives were taken captive.

The messengers went to every town in Ephraim and West Manasseh as far north as the territory of Zebulun, but everyone laughed and insulted them.

Most of the people that came from Ephraim, West Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not made themselves clean, but they ignored God's Law and ate the Passover lambs anyway. Hezekiah found out what they had done and prayed, " Lord God, these people are unclean according to the laws of holiness. But they are worshiping you, just as their ancestors did. So, please be kind and forgive them."

Hezekiah also appointed other men to take food and supplies to the priests and Levites whose homes were in the pastureland around the towns of Judah. But the priests had to be descendants of Aaron, and the Levites had to be listed in the official records.

Hezekiah your king is telling you that the Lord your God will save you from me. But he is lying, and you'll die of hunger and thirst.

The officials talked about the Lord God as if he were nothing but an ordinary god or an idol that someone had made.

But Hezekiah was so proud that he refused to thank the Lord for everything he had done for him. This made the Lord angry, and he punished Hezekiah and the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

But the people of Judah and Jerusalem listened to Manasseh and did even more sinful things than the nations the Lord had wiped out.

The Lord tried to warn Manasseh and the people about their sins, but they ignored the warning.

The people obeyed Manasseh, but they worshiped the Lord at their own shrines.

Hozai wrote a lot about Manasseh, including his prayer and God's answer. But Hozai also recorded the evil things Manasseh did before turning back to God, as well as a list of places where Manasseh set up idols, and where he built local shrines and places to worship Asherah.