Study Desk

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the memorial stones in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

Also he told the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the Law of the LORD.

As soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel abundantly provided the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

In the third month they began to make the heaps, and they finished them by the seventh month.

When Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and His people Israel.

Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of the LORD, and they prepared them.

They faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the consecrated things; and Conaniah the Levite was the officer in charge of them, and his brother Shimei was second.

The genealogical enrollment included all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, for the whole assembly, for they consecrated themselves faithfully in holiness.

he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him.

They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of devotion, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

So Hezekiah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.

and I will not remove the foot of Israel again from the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will take care to do everything that I have commanded them according to all the Law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses."

So the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel.

His prayer also and how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of Hozai.

So Manasseh lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he chopped down the incense altars that were high above them; also he broke in pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images, and ground them to powder, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

They came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the doorkeepers, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.