HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 776
2 C H RO N I C L ES 2 9
again invaded Judah and taken captives. 18 And
the Philistines had raided towns located in the
foothills of Judah* and in the Negev of Judah.
They had already captured and occupied Bethshemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with
its villages. 19 The Lord was humbling Judah
because of King Ahaz of Judah,* for he had encouraged his people to sin and had been utterly
unfaithful to the Lord.
20 So when King Tiglath-pileser* of Assyria arrived, he attacked Ahaz instead of helping him.
21 Ahaz took valuable items from the Lord’s
Temple, the royal palace, and from the homes
of his officials and gave them to the king of Assyria as tribute. But this did not help him.
22 Even during this time of trouble, King Ahaz
continued to reject the Lord. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated
him, for he said, “Since these gods helped the
kings of Aram, they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them.” But instead, they led to his ruin
and the ruin of all Judah.
24 The king took the various articles from the
Temple of God and broke them into pieces. He
shut the doors of the Lord’s Temple so that no
one could worship there, and he set up altars to
pagan gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 He
made pagan shrines in all the towns of Judah
for offering sacrifices to other gods. In this way,
he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of
his ancestors.
26 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign and
everything he did, from beginning to end, are
recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and
Israel. 27 When Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal cemetery of the
kings of Judah. Then his son Hezekiah became
the next king.
Hezekiah Rules in Judah
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old
when he became the king of Judah, and
he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His
mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight,
just as his ancestor David had done.
29
Hezekiah Reopens the Temple
3 In the very first month of the first year of his
reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the
Temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He
summoned the priests and Levites to meet him
at the courtyard east of the Temple. 5 He said to
them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the
God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled
things from the sanctuary. 6 Our ancestors were
unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight
of the Lord our God. They abandoned the
Lord and his dwelling place; they turned their
page 406
backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors to the
Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the
lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the
God of Israel.
8 “That is why the Lord’s anger has fallen
upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them
an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you
can see with your own eyes. 9 Because of this,
our fathers have been killed in battle, and our
sons and daughters and wives have been captured. 10 But now I will make a covenant with
the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce
anger will turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not
neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has
chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister
to him, and to lead the people in worship and
present offerings to him.”
12 Then these Levites got right to work:
13
14
From the clan of Kohath: Mahath son of
Amasai and Joel son of Azariah.
From the clan of Merari: Kish son of Abdi
and Azariah son of Jehallelel.
From the clan of Gershon: Joah son of
Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.
From the family of Elizaphan: Shimri
and Jeiel.
From the family of Asaph: Zechariah and
Mattaniah.
From the family of Heman: Jehiel and
Shimei.
From the family of Jeduthun: Shemaiah
and Uzziel.
15 These men called together their fellow Levites, and they all purified themselves. Then
they began to cleanse the Temple of the Lord,
just as the king had commanded. They were
careful to follow all the Lord’s instructions in
their work. 16 The priests went into the sanctuary
of the Temple of the Lord to cleanse it, and they
took out to the Temple courtyard all the defiled
things they found. From there the Levites carted
it all out to the Kidron Valley.
17 They began the work in early spring, on
the first day of the new year,* and in eight days
they had reached the entry room of the Lord’s
Temple. Then they purified the Temple of the
Lord itself, which took another eight days. So
the entire task was completed in sixteen days.
The Temple Rededication
18 Then the Levites went to King Hezekiah and
gave him this report: “We have cleansed the
entire Temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt
28:18 Hebrew the Shephelah. 28:19 Masoretic Text reads of
Israel; also in 28:23, 27. The author of Chronicles sees Judah as
representative of the true Israel. (Some Hebrew manuscripts
and Greek version read of Judah.) 28:20 Hebrew Tilgathpilneser, a variant spelling of Tiglath-pileser. 29:17 Hebrew
on the first day of the first month. This day in the ancient
Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in March or early April,
715 b.c.