He met<n id="1" /> Asa and told him, &#8220;Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The <sc>Lordsc> is with you when you are loyal to him.<n id="2" /> If you seek him, he will respond to you,<n id="3" /> but if you reject him, he will reject you.

<p class="bodytext">Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their royal robes, at the threshing floor at<n id="1" /> the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

Whenever your countrymen who live in the cities bring a case before you<n id="1" /> (whether it involves a violent crime<n id="2" /> or other matters related to the law, commandments, rules, and regulations), warn them that they must not sin against the <sc>Lordsc>. If you fail to do so, God will be angry with you and your colleagues; but if you obey, you will be free of guilt.<n id="3" />

No one must enter the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the <sc>Lordsc>.

<p class="bodytext">The Levites and all the men of Judah<n id="1" /> did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada the priest did not release his divisions from their duties.

Then she saw<n id="1" /> the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and trumpeters stood beside the king and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets, and the musicians with various instruments were leading the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes and yelled, &#8220;Treason! Treason!&#8221;<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">At the beginning<n id="1" /> of the year the Syrian army attacked<n id="2" /> Joash<n id="3" /> and invaded Judah and Jerusalem. They wiped out all the leaders of the people and sent all the plunder they gathered to the king of Damascus.

He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in God&#8217;s temple that were in the care of Obed-Edom, the riches in the royal palace, and some hostages. Then he went back to Samaria.p>

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.

Men were assigned to take the prisoners and find clothes among the plunder for those who were naked.<n id="1" /> So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin.<n id="2" /> They put the ones who couldn&#8217;t walk on donkeys.<n id="3" /> They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho,<n id="4" /> the city of the date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.p>

Hezekiah said, &#8220;Now you have consecrated yourselves<n id="1" /> to the <sc>Lordsc>. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings<n id="2" /> to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.&#8221; So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and whoever desired to do so<n id="3" /> brought burnt sacrifices.p>

<p class="bodytext">Afterward King Sennacherib of Assyria, while attacking Lachish with all his military might, sent his messengers<n id="1" /> to Jerusalem. The message was for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of<n id="2" /> Judah who were in Jerusalem. It read:

<p class="bodytext">He removed the foreign gods and images from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city.

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" />

So his servants took him out of the chariot, put him in another chariot that he owned, and brought him to Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors;<n id="2" /> all the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned Josiah.

<p class="bodytext">When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, &#8220;We have no portion in David &#8211; no share in the son of Jesse!<n id="1" /> Return to your homes, O Israel!<n id="2" /> Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!&#8221;<n id="3" /> So all Israel returned to their homes.<n id="4" />