He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria.<n id="1" /> They brought him to Jehu and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned,<n id="2" /> &#8220;He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the <sc>Lordsc> with his whole heart.&#8221; There was no one in Ahaziah&#8217;s family strong enough to rule in his place.<n id="3" />p>

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.

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" />

As for the descendants of Aaron, the priests who lived in the outskirts of all their cities,<n id="1" /> men were assigned<n id="2" /> to disburse portions to every male among the priests and to every Levite listed in the genealogical records.p>

Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power?<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">After this Manasseh<n id="1" /> built up the outer wall of the City of David<n id="2" /> on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.p>

&#8216;Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace.<n id="1" /> You will not have to witness all the disaster I will bring on this place and its residents.&#8217;&#8221;&#8217;&#8221; Then they reported back to the king.p>

The king stood by his pillar<n id="1" /> and renewed<n id="2" /> the covenant before the <sc>Lordsc>, agreeing to follow<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,<n id="4" /> by carrying out the terms<n id="5" /> of this covenant recorded on this scroll.

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the first year of the reign of<n id="1" /> King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the promise he delivered through Jeremiah,<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> moved<n id="3" /> King Cyrus of Persia to issue a written decree throughout his kingdom.