From the time Amaziah turned from following the <sc>Lordsc>, conspirators plotted against him in Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> so he fled to Lachish. But they sent assassins after him<n id="2" /> and they killed him there.

He followed<n id="1" /> God during the lifetime of<n id="2" /> Zechariah, who taught him how to honor God. As long as he followed<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, God caused him to succeed.<n id="4" />p>

Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was ranting and raving<n id="1" /> at the priests, a skin disease<n id="2" /> appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple near the incense altar.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> He did not do what pleased the <sc>Lordsc>, in contrast to his ancestor David.<n id="2" />

He offered sacrifices in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and passed his sons through the fire,<n id="1" /> a horrible sin practiced by the nations<n id="2" /> whom the <sc>Lordsc> drove out before the Israelites.

In one day King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel killed 120,000 warriors in Judah, because they had abandoned the <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors.<n id="1" />

And now you are planning<n id="1" /> to enslave<n id="2" /> the people<n id="3" /> of Judah and Jerusalem. Yet are you not also guilty before the <sc>Lordsc> your God?

Ahaz gathered riches<n id="1" /> from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.p>

In every city throughout Judah he set up high places to offer sacrifices to other gods. He angered the <sc>Lordsc> God of his ancestors.p>

He said to them: &#8220;Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> God of your ancestors!<n id="1" /> Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!

The <sc>Lordsc> was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn,<n id="1" /> as you can see with your own eyes.

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 <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;p>

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 <sc>Lord,sc> accompanied by the trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel.

King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the <sc>Lordsc>, using the psalms<n id="1" /> of David and Asaph the prophet.<n id="2" /> So they joyfully offered praise and bowed down and worshiped.

<p class="bodytext">The assembly brought a total of 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs as burnt sacrifices to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />

Don&#8217;t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors,<n id="1" /> provoking him to destroy them,<n id="2" /> as you can see.

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s command.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered<n id="1" /> the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The king contributed<n id="1" /> some of what he owned for burnt sacrifices, including the morning and evening burnt sacrifices and the burnt sacrifices made on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other appointed times prescribed<n id="2" /> in the law of the <sc>Lordsc>.