In each city there were shields and spears; he strongly fortified them. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

They solemnly agreed to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with their whole heart and being.

So look, the Lord is about to severely afflict your people, your sons, your wives, and all you own.

All Judah was happy about the oath, because they made the vow with their whole heart. They willingly sought the Lord and he responded to them. He made them secure on every side.

In every city throughout Judah he set up high places to offer sacrifices to other gods. He angered the Lord God of his ancestors.

He wholeheartedly and successfully reinstituted service in God’s temple and obedience to the law, in order to follow his God.

When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner and direct their prayers toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor,

and built up Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to him, and all the cities where chariots and horses were kept. He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.

The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, by carrying out the terms of this covenant recorded on this scroll.