then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. ¹ 

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from Judah and Benjamin ¹  to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

Look how they are repaying us! They come to drive us out of our allotted land which you assigned to us!

But the Lord was unwilling to destroy David’s dynasty ¹  because of the promise ²  he had made to give David a perpetual dynasty. ³ 

While he was speaking, Amaziah ¹  said to him, “Did we appoint you to be a royal counselor? Stop prophesying or else you will be killed!” ²  So the prophet stopped, but added, “I know that the Lord has decided ³  to destroy you, because you have done this thing and refused to listen to my advice.”

God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall through his visit to Joram. ¹  When Ahaziah ²  arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned ³  to wipe out Ahab’s family. ⁴ 

Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites to do their assigned tasks ¹  – to offer burnt sacrifices and present offerings and to serve, give thanks, and offer praise in the gates of the Lord’s sanctuary. ² 

The king said to him, “How many times must I make you solemnly promise in ¹  the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?”

They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the Lord, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. ¹ 

Look, I am ready to build a temple to honor ¹  the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him in order to burn fragrant incense before him, to set out the bread that is regularly displayed, ²  and to offer burnt sacrifices each morning and evening, and on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other times appointed by the Lord our God. This is something Israel must do on a permanent basis. ³ 

They agreed ¹  to make large seagoing merchant ships; ²  they built the ships in Ezion Geber.

So when the envoys arrived from the Babylonian officials to visit him and inquire about the sign that occurred in the land, ¹  God left him alone to test him, in order to know his true motives. ² 

Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat leading them; the Lord had given them reason to rejoice over their enemies.

Many were bringing presents ¹  to the Lord in Jerusalem and precious gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah. From that time on he was respected by ²  all the nations.

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

to supply me with large quantities of timber, for I am building a great, magnificent temple.

The priests then entered the Lord’s temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside. ¹  The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley.

So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day.

But some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had invaded and intended to attack Jerusalem, ¹