He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.

Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power?

An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem requiring the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, God’s servant, imposed on Israel in the wilderness.

Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath, and Benaiah worked under the supervision of Konaniah and his brother Shimei, as directed by King Hezekiah and Azariah, the supervisor of God’s temple.

But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, and ridiculed his prophets. Finally the Lord got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment.

Because of their distress, they turned back to the Lord God of Israel. They sought him and he responded to them.

Anyone who would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be executed, whether they were young or old, male or female.

He built royal cities and owned a large number of sheep and cattle, for God gave him a huge amount of possessions.

and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me:

Now look, God is with us as our leader. His priests are ready to blow the trumpets to signal the attack against you. You Israelites, don’t fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, for you will not win!”

He said, “The Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David.

But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you.

Don’t you realize that the Lord God of Israel has given David and his dynasty lasting dominion over Israel by a formal agreement?

That day the Israelites were defeated; the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their ancestors.

Our God, you drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession to the descendants of your friend Abraham.

All the kingdoms of the surrounding lands were afraid of God when they heard how the Lord had fought against Israel’s enemies.

He was buried in the City of David with the kings, because he had accomplished good in Israel and for God and his temple.

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.

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 I intend to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.