God&#8217;s Spirit energized<n id="1" /> Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them, &#8220;This is what God says: &#8216;Why are you violating the commands of the <sc>Lordsc>? You will not be prosperous! Because you have rejected the <sc>Lordsc>, he has rejected you!&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Amaziah assembled the people of Judah<n id="1" /> and assigned them by families to the commanders of units of a thousand and the commanders of units of a hundred for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and up and discovered there were 300,000 young men of fighting age<n id="2" /> equipped with spears and shields.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">When Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people<n id="1" /> of Seir and made them his personal gods.<n id="2" /> He bowed down before them and offered them sacrifices.

They confronted<n id="1" /> King Uzziah and said to him, &#8220;It is not proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the <sc>Lordsc>. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed<n id="2" /> and the <sc>Lordsc> God will not honor you!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">King Hezekiah<n id="1" /> stationed the Levites in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple with cymbals and stringed instruments, just as David, Gad the king&#8217;s prophet,<n id="2" /> and Nathan the prophet had ordered. (The <sc>Lordsc> had actually given these orders through his prophets.)

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" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites to do their assigned tasks<n id="1" /> &#8211; to offer burnt sacrifices and present offerings and to serve, give thanks, and offer praise in the gates of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sanctuary.<n id="2" />p>

I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors,<n id="1" /> provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.&#8221;

The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the <sc>Lordsc> responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself.<n id="1" />

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.