Study Desk

So King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day he died. He had to live in a separate house and could not enter the Temple of the Lord . His son Jotham was in charge of the palace, and he governed the people of the land.

Jotham also fought the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. So each year for three years they gave Jotham about seventy-five hundred pounds of silver, about sixty-two thousand bushels of wheat, and about sixty-two thousand bushels of barley.

So the Lord his God handed over Ahaz to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners to Damascus. He also handed over Ahaz to Pekah king of Israel, and Pekah's army killed many soldiers of Ahaz.

They warned the soldiers, "Don't bring the prisoners from Judah here. If you do, we will be guilty of sin against the Lord , and that will make our sin and guilt even worse. Our guilt is already so great that he is angry with Israel."

So the soldiers left the prisoners and valuable things in front of the officers and people there.

At that time the Edomites came again and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners. So King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help.

In every town in Judah, Ahaz made places for burning sacrifices to worship other gods. So he made the Lord , the God of his ancestors, very angry.

So the Lord became very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and he punished them. Other people are frightened and shocked by what he did to them. So they insult the people of Judah. You know these things are true.

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

Beginning on the first day of the first month, they made the Temple holy for the Lord 's service. On the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of the Temple, and for eight more days they made the Temple of the Lord holy. So they finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

So the priests killed the bulls and sprinkled their blood on the altar. They killed the sheep and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they killed the lambs and sprinkled their blood on the altar.

the priests killed them. With the goats' blood they made an offering on the altar to remove the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to God. The king had said that the burnt offering and sin offering should be made for all Israel.

So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments of music, and the priests stood ready with their trumpets.

King Hezekiah and his officers ordered the Levites to praise the Lord , using the words David and Asaph the seer had used. So they praised God with joy and bowed down and worshiped.

Then Hezekiah said, "Now that you people of Judah have given yourselves to the Lord , come near to the Temple of the Lord . Bring sacrifices and offerings, to show thanks to him." So the people brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and anyone who was willing also brought burnt offerings.

There were not enough priests to skin all the animals for the burnt offerings. So their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was finished and other priests could be made holy. The Levites had been more careful to make themselves holy for the Lord 's service than the priests.

There were many burnt offerings along with the fat of fellowship offerings and drink offerings. So the service in the Temple of the Lord began again.

And Hezekiah and the people were very happy that God had made it happen so quickly for his people.

So they made an announcement everywhere in Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, telling the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the Lord , the God of Israel. For a long time most of the people had not celebrated the Passover as the law commanded.

Don't be like your ancestors or your relatives. They turned against the Lord , the God of their ancestors, so he caused other people to be disgusted with them. You know this is true.