Jehoiada the priest sent out the officers of the units of hundreds, who were in charge of the army, and ordered them, &#8220;Bring her outside the temple to the guards.<n id="1" /> Put the sword to anyone who follows her.&#8221; The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="2" />

He summoned<n id="1" /> the officers of the units of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of land, and he then led the king down from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne.

<p class="bodytext">So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest,<n id="1" /> and said to him, &#8220;Why have you not made<n id="2" /> the Levites collect<n id="3" /> from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant and by the assembly of Israel at the tent containing the tablets of the law?&#8221;<n id="4" />

However, he did not execute their sons. He obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Fathers must not be executed for what their sons do,<n id="2" /> and sons must not be executed for what their fathers do.<n id="3" /> A man must be executed only for his own sin.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

Amaziah asked the prophet:<n id="1" /> &#8220;But what should I do about the hundred talents of silver I paid the Israelite troops?&#8221; The prophet<n id="2" /> replied, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is capable of giving you more than that.&#8221;

The <sc>Lordsc> was angry at Amaziah and sent a prophet to him, who said, &#8220;Why are you following<n id="1" /> these gods<n id="2" /> that could not deliver their own people from your power?&#8221;<n id="3" />

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.

King Uzziah suffered from a skin disease until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters,<n id="1" /> afflicted by a skin disease and banned from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> his God handed him over to the king of Syria. The Syrians<n id="1" /> defeated him and deported many captives to Damascus.<n id="2" /> He was also handed over to the king of Israel, who thoroughly defeated him.<n id="3" />

They said to them, &#8220;Don&#8217;t bring those captives here! Are you planning on making us even more sinful and guilty before the <sc>Lordsc>?<n id="1" /> Our guilt is already great and the <sc>Lordsc> is very angry at Israel.&#8221;<n id="2" />

Ahaz gathered the items in God&#8217;s temple and removed them. He shut the doors of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and erected altars on every street corner in Jerusalem.

They went to King Hezekiah and said: &#8220;We have purified the entire temple of the <sc>Lordsc>, including the altar of burnt sacrifice and all its equipment, and the table for the Bread of the Presence and all its equipment.

They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah.<n id="1" /> The king<n id="2" /> told the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer burnt sacrifices on the altar of the <sc>Lordsc>.

So they sent an edict<n id="1" /> throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people<n id="2" /> to come and observe a Passover for the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law.<n id="3" />

Messengers<n id="1" /> delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah.p> <p class="bodytext">This royal edict read:<n id="2" /> &#8220;O Israelites, return to the <sc>Lordsc> God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return<n id="3" /> to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria.<n id="4" />

The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law.<n id="1" /> For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc>, who is good, forgive<n id="2" />

The Israelites and people of Judah<n id="1" /> who lived in the cities of Judah also contributed a tenth of their cattle and sheep, as well as a tenth of the holy items consecrated to the <sc>Lordsc> their God. They brought them and placed them in many heaps.<n id="2" />

He wrote letters mocking the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel and insulting him with these words:<n id="1" /> &#8220;The gods of the surrounding nations could not rescue their people from my power. Neither can Hezekiah&#8217;s god rescue his people from my power.&#8221;<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> sent a messenger<n id="1" /> and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib<n id="2" /> returned home humiliated.<n id="3" /> When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons<n id="4" /> struck him down with the sword.

He passed his sons through the fire<n id="1" /> in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it.<n id="2" /> He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the <sc>Lordsc> and angered him.<n id="3" />