Messengers<n id="1" /> arrived and reported to Jehoshaphat, &#8220;A huge army is attacking you from the other side of the Dead Sea,<n id="2" /> from the direction of Edom.<n id="3" /> Look, they are in Hazezon Tamar (that is, En Gedi).&#8221;

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>

<p class="bodytext">But Amaziah did not heed the warning,<n id="1" /> for God wanted to hand them over to Joash because they followed the gods of Edom.<n id="2" />

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.

<t /><p class="bodytext">All the people of Judah took Uzziah,<n id="1" /> who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah&#8217;s place.

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.

They were unable to observe it at the regular<n id="1" /> time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.

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>

<p class="bodytext">Hezekiah dammed up the source of the waters of the Upper Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the City of David.<n id="1" /> Hezekiah succeeded in all that he did.

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>

So all the preparations for the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the <sc>Lordsc>, as prescribed by King Josiah.

So the Israelites who were present observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

<p class="bodytext">He launched a military campaign<n id="1" /> against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. That year the Ammonites paid him 100 talents<n id="2" /> of silver, 10,000 kors<n id="3" /> of wheat, and 10,000 kors<n id="4" /> of barley. The Ammonites also paid this same amount of annual tribute the next two years.<n id="5" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then Solomon convened Israel&#8217;s elders &#8211; all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families &#8211; in Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc> from the City of David<n id="2" /> (that is, Zion).<n id="3" />

<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.

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival for seven days. This great assembly included people from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt in the south.<n id="1" />

She gave the king 120 talents<n id="1" /> of gold and a very large quantity of spices and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched.<n id="2" />

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, more than what she had brought him.<n id="1" /> Then she left and returned<n id="2" /> to her homeland with her attendants.p>

<p class="bodytext">At that time Hanani the prophet<n id="1" /> visited King Asa of Judah and said to him: &#8220;Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the <sc>Lordsc> your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.