9A prophet of the LORD by the name of Oded was there, who went out to meet the army on its return to Samaria. He said to them, “Because of the fury of the LORD God of your fathers against Judah, He delivered them over to you, and you killed them in a rage that reached heaven. 10Do you now intend to subjugate the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves? As it is, you have nothing but offenses against the LORD your God. 11Now then, listen to me, and send back the captives you have taken from your kinsmen, for the wrath of the LORD is upon you!” 12Some of the chief men of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—confronted those returning from the campaign 13and said to them, “Do not bring these captives here, for it would mean our offending the LORD, adding to our sins and our offenses; for our offense is grave enough, and there is already wrath upon Israel.” 14So the soldiers released the captives and the booty in the presence of the officers and all the congregation. 15Then the men named above proceeded to take the captives in hand, and with the booty they clothed all the naked among them—they clothed them and shod them and gave them to eat and drink and anointed them and provided donkeys for all who were failing and brought them to Jericho, the city of palms, back to their kinsmen. Then they returned to Samaria.
16At that time, King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help. 17Again the Edomites came and inflicted a defeat on Judah and took captives. 18And the Philistines made forays against the cities of the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah; they seized Beth-shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, and Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they settled there. 19Thus the LORD brought Judah low on account of King Ahaz of Israel,a for he threw off restraint in Judah and trespassed against the LORD. 20Tillegath-pilneser, king of Assyria, marched against him and gave him trouble, instead of supporting him. 21For Ahaz plundered the House of the LORD and the house of the king and the officers, and made a gift to the king of Assyria—to no avail.
22In his time of trouble, this King Ahaz trespassed even more against the LORD, 23sacrificing to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, for he thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram help them; I shall sacrifice to them and they will help me”; but they were his ruin and that of all Israel. 24Ahaz collected the utensils of the House of God, and cut the utensils of the House of God to pieces. He shut the doors of the House of the LORD and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25In every town in Judah he set up shrines to make offerings to other gods, vexing the LORD God of his fathers.
26The other events of his reign and all his conduct, early and late, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem; his body was not brought to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.
29 Hezekiah became king at the age of twenty-five, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 2He did what was pleasing to the LORD, just as his father David had done.
3He, in the first month of the first year of his reign, opened the doors of the House of the LORD and repaired them. 4He summoned the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the east square. 5He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves and sanctify the House of the LORD God of your fathers, and take the abhorrent things out of the holy place. 6For our fathers trespassed and did what displeased the LORD our God; they forsook Him and turned their faces away from the dwellingplace of the LORD, turning their backs on it. 7They also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lights; they did not offer incense and did not make burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8The wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem; He made them an object of horror, amazement, and hissinga as you see with your own eyes. 9Our fathers died by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity on account of this. 10Now I wish to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, so that His rage may be withdrawn from us. 11Now, my sons, do not be slack, for the LORD chose you to attend upon Him, to serve Him, to be His ministers and to make offerings to Him.”
12So the Levites set to—Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah of the sons of Kohath; and of the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; 13and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14and of the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel—15and, gathering their brothers, they sanctified themselves and came, by a command of the king concerning the LORD’s ordinances, to purify the House of the LORD. 16The priests went into the House of the LORD to purify it, and brought all the unclean things they found in the Temple of the LORD out into the court of the House of the LORD; [there] the Levites received them, to take them outside to Wadi Kidron. 17They began the sanctification on the first day of the first month; on the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the LORD. They sanctified the House of the LORD for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18Then they went into the palace of King Hezekiah and said, “We have purified the whole House of the LORD and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table of the bread of display and all its utensils; 19and all the utensils that King Ahaz had befouled during his reign, when he trespassed, we have made ready and sanctified. They are standing in front of the altar of the LORD.”
20King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the officers of the city, and went up to the House of the LORD. 21They brought seven bulls and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he-goats as a sin offering for the kingdom and for the Sanctuary and for Judah. He ordered the Aaronite priests to offer them on the altar of the LORD. 22The cattle were slaughtered, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar; the rams were slaughtered and the blood was dashed against the altar; the lambs were slaughtered and the blood was dashed against the altar. 23The he-goats for the sin offering were presented to the king and the congregation, who laid their hands upon them. 24The priests slaughtered them and performed the purgation rite with the blood against the altar, to expiate for all Israel, for the king had designated the burnt offering and the sin offering to be for all Israel. 25He stationed the Levites in the House of the LORD with cymbals and harps and lyres, as David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet had ordained, for the ordinance was by the LORD through His prophets.
26When the Levites were in place with the instruments of David, and the priests with their trumpets, 27Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar.
When the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD and the trumpets began also, together with the instruments of King David of Israel. 28All the congregation prostrated themselves, the song was sung and the trumpets were blown—all this until the end of the burnt offering. 29When the offering was finished, the king and all who were there with him knelt and prostrated themselves. 30King Hezekiah and the officers ordered the Levites to praise the LORD in the words of David and Asaph the seer; so they praised rapturously, and they bowed and prostrated themselves.
31Then Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD; come, bring sacrifices and thanksgiving to the House of the LORD.” The congregation brought sacrifices of well-being and thanksgiving, and all who felt so moved brought burnt offerings. 32The number of burnt offerings that the congregation brought was 70 cattle, 100 rams, 200 lambs—all these for burnt offerings to the LORD. 33The sacred offerings were 600 large cattle and 3,000 small cattle. 34The priests were too few to be
