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Isaiah 2:1
Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz.
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Isaiah 7:1
During the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel marched up to Jerusalem to do battle, but they were unable to prevail against it.
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Numbers 24:16
the oracle of the one who hears the words of God, and who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, although falling flat on the ground with eyes open:
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Isaiah 6:1
In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the sovereign master seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.
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Psalms 89:19
Then you spoke through a vision to your faithful followers and said:“ I have energized a warrior; I have raised up a young man from the people.
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2 Kings 18 1-2 Kings 20 21
In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah.He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.He did what the LORD approved, just as his ancestor David had done.He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.He was loyal to the LORD and did not abandon him. He obeyed the commandments which the LORD had given to Moses.The LORD was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him.He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress.In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign( it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.After three years he captured it( in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured.The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor( the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.This happened because they did not obey the LORD their God and broke his agreement with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the LORD’s servant, had commanded.In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish,“ I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the LORD’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace.At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the LORD’s temple and from the posts which he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria.The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.The chief adviser said to them,“ Tell Hezekiah:‘ This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says:“ What is your source of confidence?Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me?Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.Perhaps you will tell me,‘ We are trusting in the LORD our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem,‘ You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.Furthermore it was by the command of the LORD that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The LORD told me,‘ March up against this land and destroy it.’”’”Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser,“ Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”But the chief adviser said to them,“ My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect,“ Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.This is what the king says:‘ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand!Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the LORD when he says,“ The LORD will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says,‘ Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,until I come and take you to a land just like your own– a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says,“ The LORD will rescue us.”Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power?’”The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered,“ Don’t respond to him.”Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the LORD’s temple.He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:“ This is what Hezekiah says:‘ This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the LORD your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.’”When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah,Isaiah said to them,“ Tell your master this:‘ This is what the LORD says:“ Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard– these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me.Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land.”’”When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.The king heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:“ Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this:‘ Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says,“ Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed– the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar– rescued by their gods?Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s temple and spread it out before the LORD.Hezekiah prayed before the LORD:“ LORD God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth.Pay attention, LORD, and hear! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God!It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands.They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.Now, O LORD our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, LORD, are the only God.”Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah:“ This is what the LORD God of Israel says:‘ I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria.This is what the Lord says about him:“ The virgin daughter Zion despises you, she makes fun of you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head after you.Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted, and looked so arrogantly? At the Holy One of Israel!Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,‘ With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars, and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, its thickest woods.I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out, In ancient times I planned it; and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins.Their residents are powerless, they are terrified and ashamed. They are as short-lived as plants in the field, or green vegetation. They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops when it is scorched by the east wind.I know where you live, and everything you do.Because you rage against me, and the uproar you create has reached my ears; I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.”This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.For a remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The intense devotion of the sovereign LORD to his people will accomplish this.So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:“ He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, nor will he build siege works against it.He will go back the way he came. He will not enter this city,” says the LORD.I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”That very night the LORD’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him,“ This is what the LORD says,‘ Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.’”He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,“ Please, LORD. Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.Isaiah was still in the middle courtyard when the LORD told him,“ Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people:‘ This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says:“ I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow you will go up to the LORD’s temple.I will add fifteen years to your life and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’”Isaiah ordered,“ Get a fig cake.” So they did as he ordered and placed it on the ulcerated sore, and he recovered.Hezekiah had said to Isaiah,“ What is the confirming sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the LORD’s temple the day after tomorrow?”Isaiah replied,“ This is your sign from the LORD confirming that the LORD will do what he has said. Do you want the shadow to move ahead ten steps or to go back ten steps?”Hezekiah answered,“ It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for it to go back ten steps.”Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill.Hezekiah welcomed them and showed them his whole storehouse, with its silver, gold, spices, and high quality olive oil, as well as his armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom.Isaiah the prophet visited King Hezekiah and asked him,“ What did these men say? Where do they come from?” Hezekiah replied,“ They come from the distant land of Babylon.”Isaiah asked,“ What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah replied,“ They have seen everything in my palace. I showed them everything in my treasuries.”Isaiah said to Hezekiah,“ Listen to the word of the LORD,‘ Look, a time is coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.‘ Some of your very own descendants whom you father will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”Hezekiah said to Isaiah,“ The LORD’s word which you have announced is appropriate.” Then he added,“ At least there will be peace and stability during my lifetime.”The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.Hezekiah passed away and his son Manasseh replaced him as king.
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Amos 1:1
The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. He was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him during the time of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
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Hosea 1:1
This is the word of the LORD which was revealed to Hosea son of Beeri during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash ruled Israel.
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2 Kings 15 7
Azariah passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His son Jotham replaced him as king.
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2 Kings 15 32-2 Kings 16 20
In the second year of the reign of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah.He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.He did what the LORD approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the LORD’s temple.The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.In those days the LORD prompted King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah to attack Judah.Jotham passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz replaced him as king.In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king over Judah.Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what pleased the LORD his God, in contrast to his ancestor David.He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the LORD drove out from before the Israelites.He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.At that time King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz, but were unable to conquer him.( At that time King Rezin of Syria recovered Elat for Syria; he drove the Judahites from there. Syrians arrived in Elat and live there to this very day.)Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying,“ I am your servant and your dependent. March up and rescue me from the power of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked me.”Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the LORD’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute to the king of Assyria.The king of Assyria responded favorably to his request; he attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported the people to Kir and executed Rezin.When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus.When the king arrived back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and offered a sacrifice on it.He offered his burnt sacrifice and his grain offering. He poured out his libation and sprinkled the blood from his peace offerings on the altar.He moved the bronze altar that stood in the LORD’s presence from the front of the temple( between the altar and the LORD’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new altar.King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest,“ On the large altar offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.”So Uriah the priest did exactly as King Ahaz ordered.King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took“ The Sea” down from the bronze bulls that supported it and put it on the pavement.He also removed the Sabbath awning that had been built in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria.The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.Ahaz passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.
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Isaiah 21:2
I have received a distressing message:“ The deceiver deceives, the destroyer destroys. Attack, you Elamites! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all the groaning!”
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Isaiah 40:9
Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion! Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! Shout, don’t be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah,“ Here is your God!”
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Micah 1:1
This is the prophetic message that the LORD gave to Micah of Moresheth. He delivered this message during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The prophecies pertain to Samaria and Jerusalem.
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2 Chronicles 26 1-2 Chronicles 32 33
All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place.Uzziah built up Elat and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah had passed away.Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem.He did what the LORD approved, just as his father Amaziah had done.He followed God during the lifetime of Zechariah, who taught him how to honor God. As long as he followed the LORD, God caused him to succeed.Uzziah attacked the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and throughout Philistine territory.God helped him in his campaigns against the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites.The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame reached the border of Egypt, for he grew in power.Uzziah built and fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, Valley Gate, and at the Angle.He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, for he loved agriculture.Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official.The total number of family leaders who led warriors was 2,600.They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend the king against his enemies.Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slingstones for the entire army.In Jerusalem he made war machines carefully designed to shoot arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the walls. He became very famous, for he received tremendous support and became powerful.But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He disobeyed the LORD his God. He entered the LORD’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar.Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests of the LORD followed him in.They confronted King Uzziah and said to him,“ It is not proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the LORD. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed and the LORD God will not honor you!”Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was ranting and raving at the priests, a skin disease appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the LORD’s temple near the incense altar.When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there; even the king himself wanted to leave quickly because the LORD had afflicted him.King Uzziah suffered from a skin disease until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters, afflicted by a skin disease and banned from the LORD’s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from start to finish, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.Uzziah passed away and was buried near his ancestors in a cemetery belonging to the kings.( This was because he had a skin disease.) His son Jotham replaced him as king.Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.He did what the LORD approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.( He did not, however, have the audacity to enter the temple.) Yet the people were still sinning.He built the Upper Gate to the LORD’s temple and did a lot of work on the wall in the area known as Ophel.He built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.He launched a military campaign against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. That year the Ammonites paid him 100 talents of silver, 10,000 kors of wheat, and 10,000 kors of barley. The Ammonites also paid this same amount of annual tribute the next two years.Jotham grew powerful because he was determined to please the LORD his God.The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, including all his military campaigns and his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem.Jotham passed away and was buried in the City of David. His son Ahaz replaced him as king.Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what pleased the LORD, in contrast to his ancestor David.He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel; he also made images of the Baals.He offered sacrifices in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and passed his sons through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the LORD drove out before the Israelites.He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.The LORD his God handed him over to the king of Syria. The Syrians defeated him and deported many captives to Damascus. He was also handed over to the king of Israel, who thoroughly defeated him.In one day King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel killed 120,000 warriors in Judah, because they had abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors.Zikri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam, the supervisor of the palace, and Elkanah, the king’s second-in-command.The Israelites seized from their brothers 200,000 wives, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a huge amount of plunder and took it back to Samaria.Oded, a prophet of the LORD, was there. He went to meet the army as they arrived in Samaria and said to them:“ Look, because the LORD God of your ancestors was angry with Judah he handed them over to you. You have killed them so mercilessly that God has taken notice.And now you are planning to enslave the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Yet are you not also guilty before the LORD your God?Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the LORD is very angry at you!”So some of the Ephraimite family leaders, Azariah son of Jehochanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jechizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai confronted those returning from the battle.They said to them,“ Don’t bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the LORD? Our guilt is already great and the LORD is very angry at Israel.”So the soldiers released the captives and the plunder before the officials and the entire assembly.Men were assigned to take the prisoners and find clothes among the plunder for those who were naked. So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin. They put the ones who couldn’t walk on donkeys. They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.At that time King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help.The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried off captives.The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the lowlands and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages.The LORD humiliated Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very unfaithful to the LORD.King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came, but he gave him more trouble than support.Ahaz gathered riches from the LORD’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.During his time of trouble King Ahaz was even more unfaithful to the LORD.He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus whom he thought had defeated him. He reasoned,“ Since the gods of the kings of Damascus helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they caused him and all Israel to stumble.Ahaz gathered the items in God’s temple and removed them. He shut the doors of the LORD’s temple and erected altars on every street corner in Jerusalem.In every city throughout Judah he set up high places to offer sacrifices to other gods. He angered the LORD God of his ancestors.The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, including his accomplishments from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.Ahaz passed away and was buried in the City of David; they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.He did what the LORD approved, just as his ancestor David had done.In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the LORD’s temple and repaired them.He brought in the priests and Levites and assembled them in the square on the east side.He said to them:“ Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the LORD God of your ancestors! Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of the LORD our God and abandoned him! They turned away from the LORD’s dwelling place and rejected him.They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.The LORD was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.Look, our fathers died violently and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off because of this.Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to serve in his presence and offer sacrifices.”The following Levites prepared to carry out the king’s orders: From the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah; from the Merarites: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;from the descendants of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; from the descendants of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah;from the descendants of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the LORD’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word of the LORD.The priests then entered the LORD’s temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the LORD’s temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside. The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley.On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the LORD’s temple. For eight more days they consecrated the LORD’s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.They went to King Hezekiah and said:“ We have purified the entire temple of the LORD, including the altar of burnt sacrifice and all its equipment, and the table for the Bread of the Presence and all its equipment.We have prepared and consecrated all the items that King Ahaz removed during his reign when he acted unfaithfully. They are in front of the altar of the LORD.”Early the next morning King Hezekiah assembled the city officials and went up to the LORD’s temple.They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. The king told the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer burnt sacrifices on the altar of the LORD.They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood on the altar; next they slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood on the altar.Finally they brought the goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they placed their hands on them.Then the priests slaughtered them. They offered their blood as a sin offering on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had decreed that the burnt sacrifice and sin offering were for all Israel.King Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the LORD’s temple with cymbals and stringed instruments, just as David, Gad the king’s prophet, and Nathan the prophet had ordered.( The LORD had actually given these orders through his prophets.)The Levites had David’s musical instruments and the priests had trumpets.Hezekiah ordered the burnt sacrifice to be offered on the altar. As they began to offer the sacrifice, they also began to sing to the LORD, accompanied by the trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel.The entire assembly worshiped, as the singers sang and the trumpeters played. They continued until the burnt sacrifice was completed.When the sacrifices were completed, the king and all who were with him bowed down and worshiped.King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the LORD, using the psalms of David and Asaph the prophet. So they joyfully offered praise and bowed down and worshiped.Hezekiah said,“ Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the LORD’s temple.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and whoever desired to do so brought burnt sacrifices.The assembly brought a total of 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs as burnt sacrifices to the LORD,and 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep were consecrated.But there were not enough priests to skin all the animals, so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests could consecrate themselves.( The Levites had been more conscientious about consecrating themselves than the priests.)There was a large number of burnt sacrifices, as well as fat from the peace offerings and drink offerings that accompanied the burnt sacrifices. So the service of the LORD’s temple was reinstituted.Hezekiah and all the people were happy about what God had done for them, for it had been done quickly.Hezekiah sent messages throughout Israel and Judah; he even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, summoning them to come to the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem and observe a Passover celebration for the LORD God of Israel.The king, his officials, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem decided to observe the Passover in the second month.They were unable to observe it at the regular time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.The proposal seemed appropriate to the king and the entire assembly.So they sent an edict throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people to come and observe a Passover for the LORD God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law.
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Isaiah 13:1
This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz:
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Jeremiah 23:16
The LORD who rules over all says to the people of Jerusalem:“ Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the LORD has given them to say.
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2 Corinthians 12 1
It is necessary to go on boasting. Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.
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Matthew 17:9
As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them,“ Do not tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
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Acts 26:19
“ Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
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Acts 10:17
Now while Peter was puzzling over what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon’s house was and approached the gate.
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Numbers 24:4
the oracle of the one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, although falling flat on the ground with eyes open:
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Habakkuk 2:2
The LORD responded:“ Write down this message! Record it legibly on tablets, so the one who announces it may read it easily.
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Nahum 1:1
The oracle against Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
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2 Peter 1 21
for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
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2 Kings 15 1
In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Amaziah’s son Azariah became king over Judah.
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Numbers 12:6
The LORD said,“ Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.
