2 Chronicles 31

1 After all this was over, those Israelites who had been present went forth to the cities of Judah and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the sacred poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, until all were destroyed. Then the Israelites returned to their various cities, each to his own possession.
2 Hezekiah reestablished the classes of the priests and the Levites according to their former classification, assigning to each priest and Levite his proper service, whether in regard to holocausts or peace offerings, thanksgiving or praise, or ministering in the gates of the encampment of the LORD.
3 From his own wealth the king allotted a portion for holocausts, those of morning and evening and those on sabbaths, new moons and festivals, as prescribed in the law of the LORD.
4 He also commanded the people living in Jerusalem to provide the support of the priests and Levites, that they might devote themselves entirely to the law of the LORD.
5 As soon as the order was promulgated, the Israelites brought, in great quantities, the best of their grain, wine, oil and honey, and all the produce of the fields; they gave a generous tithe of everything.
6 Israelites and Judahites living in other cities of Judah also brought in tithes of oxen, sheep, and things that had been consecrated to the LORD, their God; these they brought in and set out in heaps.
7 It was in the third month that they began to establish these heaps, and they completed them in the seventh month.
8 When Hezekiah and the princes had come and seen the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel.
9 Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps,
10 and the priest Azariah, head of the house of Zadoc, answered him, Since they began to bring the offerings to the house of the LORD, we have eaten to the full and have had much left over, for the LORD has blessed his people. This great supply is what was left over.
11 Hezekiah then gave orders that chambers be constructed in the house of the LORD. When this had been done,
12 the offerings, tithes and consecrated things were deposited there in safekeeping. The overseer of these things was Conaniah the Levite, and his brother Shimei was second in charge.
13 Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath and Benaiah were supervisors subject to Conaniah and his brother Shimei by appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah, the prefect of the house of God.
14 Kore, the son of Imnah, a Levite and the keeper of the eastern gate, was in charge of the free-will gifts made to God; he distributed the offerings made to the LORD and the most holy of the consecrated things.
15 Under him in the priestly cities were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah, who faithfully made the distribution to their brethren, great and small alike, according to their classes.
16 There was also a register by ancestral houses of males thirty years of age and over, for all priests who were eligible to enter the house of the LORD according to the daily rule to fulfill their service in the order of their classes.
17 The priests were inscribed in their family records according to their ancestral houses, and the Levites of twenty years and over according to their various offices and classes.
18 A distribution was also made to all who were inscribed in the family records, for their little ones, wives, sons and daughters--thus for the entire assembly, since they were to sanctify themselves by sharing faithfully in the consecrated things.
19 The sons of Aaron, the priests who lived on the lands attached to their cities, had in every city men designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to every Levite listed in the family records.
20 This Hezekiah did in all Judah. He did what was good, upright and faithful before the LORD, his God.
21 Everything that he undertook, for the service of the house of God or for the law and the commandments, was to do the will of his God. He did this wholeheartedly, and he prospered.

2 Chronicles 32

1 But after he had proved his fidelity by such deeds, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came. He invaded Judah, besieged the fortified cities, and proposed to take them by storm.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was coming with the intention of attacking Jerusalem,
3 he decided in counsel with his princes and warriors to stop the waters of the springs outside the city. When they had pledged him their support,
4 a large crowd was gathered which stopped all the springs and also the running stream in the valley nearby. For they said, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find an abundance of water?
5 He then looked to his defenses: he rebuilt the wall where it was broken down, raised towers upon it, and built another wall outside. He strengthened the Millo of the City of David and had a great number of spears and shields prepared.
6 Then he appointed army commanders over the people. He gathered them together in his presence in the open space at the gate of the city and encouraged them with these words:
7 Be brave and steadfast; do not be afraid or dismayed because of the king of Assyria and all the throng that is coming with him, for there is more with us than with him.
8 For he has only an arm of flesh, but we have the LORD, our God, to help us and to fight our battles. And the people took confidence from the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.
9 After this, while Sennacherib, king of Assyria, himself remained at Lachish with all his forces, he sent his officials to Jerusalem with this message for King Hezekiah of Judah, and all the Judahites who were in Jerusalem:
10 King Sennacherib of Assyria has this to say: On what are you relying, while you remain under siege in Jerusalem?
11 Has not Hezekiah deceived you, delivering you over to a death of famine and thirst, by his claim that 'the LORD, our God, will save us from the grasp of the king of Assyria'?
12 Has not this same Hezekiah removed his high places and altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall prostrate yourselves before one altar only, and on it alone you shall offer incense'?
13 Do you not know what my fathers and I have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations in those lands able to save their lands from my hand?
14 Who among all the gods of those nations which my fathers put under the ban was able to save his people from my hand? Will your god, then, be able to save you from my hand?
15 Let not Hezekiah mislead you further and deceive you in any such way. Do not believe him! Since no other god of any other nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand or the hands of my fathers, how much the less shall your god save you from my hand!
16 His officials said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah,
17 for he had written letters to deride the LORD, the God of Israel, speaking of him in these terms: As the gods of the nations in other lands have not saved their people from my hand, neither shall Hezekiah's god save his people from my hand.
18 In a loud voice they shouted in the Judean language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them so that they might capture their city.
19 They spoke of the God of Israel as though he were one of the gods of the other peoples of the earth, a work of human hands.
20 But because of this, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, prayed and called out to heaven.
21 Then the LORD sent an angel, who destroyed every valiant warrior, leader and commander in the camp of the Assyrian king, so that he had to return shamefaced to his own country. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down there with the sword.
22 Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, as from every other power; he gave them rest on every side.
23 Many brought gifts for the LORD to Jerusalem and costly objects for King Hezekiah of Judah, who thereafter was exalted in the eyes of all the nations.
24 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him by giving him a sign.
25 Hezekiah, however, did not then discharge his debt of gratitude, for he had become proud. Therefore anger descended upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 But then Hezekiah humbled himself for his pride--both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and therefore the LORD did not vent his anger on them during the time of Hezekiah.
27 Hezekiah possessed very great wealth and glory. He had treasuries made for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, jewels, and other precious things of all kinds;
28 also storehouses for the harvest of grain, for wine and oil, and barns for the various kinds of cattle and for the flocks.
29 He built cities for himself, and he acquired sheep and oxen in great numbers, for God gave him very great riches.
30 This same Hezekiah stopped the upper outflow of water from Gihon and led it underground westward to the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his undertakings.
31 Nevertheless, in respect to the ambassadors (princes) sent to him from Babylon to investigate the sign that had occurred in the land, God forsook him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
32 The rest of Hezekiah's acts, including his pious works, can be found written in the Vision of the Prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors; he was buried at the approach to the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

2 Chronicles 33

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, following the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the Israelites.
3 He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down, erected altars for the Baals, made sacred poles, and prostrated himself before the whole host of heaven and worshiped them.
4 He even built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever:
5 he built altars to the whole host of heaven in the two courts of the LORD'S house.
6 It was he, too, who immolated his sons by fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced augury, divination and magic, and appointed necromancers and diviners of spirits, so that he provoked the LORD with the great evil that he did in his sight.
7 He placed an idol that he had carved in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon: In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel I shall place my name forever.
8 I will not again allow Israel's feet to leave the land which I assigned to your fathers, provided they are careful to observe all that I commanded them, keeping the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances given by Moses.
9 Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into doing even greater evil than the nations which the LORD had destroyed at the coming of the Israelites.
10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.
11 Therefore the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the Assyrian king; they took Manasseh with hooks, shackled him with chains, and transported him to Babylon.
12 In this distress, he began to appease the LORD, his God. He humbled himself abjectly before the God of his fathers
13 and prayed to him. The LORD let himself be won over: he heard his prayer and restored him to his kingdom in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh understood that the LORD is indeed God.
14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the City of David to the west of Gihon in the valley, extending to the Fish Gate and encircling Ophel; he built it very high. He stationed army officers in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the LORD'S house and all the altars he had built on the mount of the LORD'S house and in Jerusalem, and he cast them outside the city.
16 He restored the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed on it peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.
17 Though the people continued to sacrifice on the high places, they now did so to the LORD, their God.
18 The rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, can be found written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer and how his supplication was heard, all his sins and his infidelity, the sites where he built high places and erected sacred poles and carved images before he humbled himself, all can be found written down in the history of his seers.
20 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his own palace. His son Amon succeeded him as king.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon offered sacrifice to all the idols which his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped them.
23 Moreover, he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; on the contrary, Amon only increased his guilt.
24 His servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.
25 But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon, and then they, the people of the land, made his son Josiah king in his stead.