the pure gold flower-shaped ornaments, lamps, and tongs,

All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival<n id="1" /> in the seventh month.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Later King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel, who<n id="1" /> did evil.

He followed in the footsteps of Ahab&#8217;s dynasty,<n id="1" /> for his mother gave him evil advice.<n id="2" />

Uzziah<n id="1" /> built up Elat and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah<n id="2" /> had passed away.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">He built the Upper Gate to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and did a lot of work on the wall in the area known as Ophel.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">During his time of trouble King Ahaz was even more unfaithful to the <sc>Lordsc>.

<p class="bodytext">In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and repaired them.

He did not humble himself before the <sc>Lordsc> as his father Manasseh had done.<n id="1" /> Amon was guilty of great sin.<n id="2" />

When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at<n id="1" /> him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there; even the king<n id="2" /> himself wanted to leave quickly because the <sc>Lordsc> had afflicted him.

But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.&#8217;<n id="1" />

He also built high places on the hills of Judah; he encouraged the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> and led Judah away from the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p>

So King Joash of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah faced each other on the battlefield<n id="1" /> in Beth Shemesh of Judah.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s<n id="2" /> high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, &#8220;At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.&#8221;

But then Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem humbled themselves and abandoned their pride, and the <sc>Lordsc> was not angry with them for the rest of Hezekiah&#8217;s reign.<n id="1" />p>

When he prayed to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> responded to him<n id="3" /> and answered favorably<n id="4" /> his cry for mercy. The <sc>Lordsc><n id="5" /> brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the <sc>Lordsc> is the true God.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation<n id="1" /> and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds;<n id="2" /> they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple.

When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, &#8220;He must be the king of Israel!&#8221; So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. The <sc>Lordsc> helped him; God lured them away from him.

He prayed: &#8220;O <sc>Lordsc> God of our ancestors,<n id="1" /> you are the God who lives in heaven<n id="2" /> and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you.

Jehoshaphat and his men<n id="1" /> went to gather the plunder; they found a huge amount of supplies, clothing<n id="2" /> and valuable items. They carried away everything they could.<n id="3" /> There was so much plunder, it took them three days to haul it off.<n id="4" />p>