They abandoned the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors,<n id="1" /> and worshiped<n id="2" /> the Asherah poles and idols. Because of this sinful activity, God was angry with Judah and Jerusalem.

King Joash disregarded<n id="1" /> the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada&#8217;s<n id="2" /> son. As Zechariah<n id="3" /> was dying, he said, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> take notice and seek vengeance!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<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 did what the <sc>Lordsc> approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.<n id="1" /> (He did not, however, have the audacity to enter the temple.)<n id="2" /> Yet the people were still sinning.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> He did not do what pleased the <sc>Lordsc>, in contrast to his ancestor David.<n id="2" />

In one day King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel killed 120,000 warriors in Judah, because they had abandoned the <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors.<n id="1" />

In every city throughout Judah he set up high places to offer sacrifices to other gods. He angered the <sc>Lordsc> God of his ancestors.p>

Ahaz passed away<n id="1" /> and was buried in the City of David;<n id="2" /> they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah replaced him as king.p>

He said to them: &#8220;Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> God of your ancestors!<n id="1" /> Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!

For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> our God and abandoned him! They turned<n id="2" /> away from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s dwelling place and rejected him.<n id="3" />

Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors<n id="1" /> have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power?<n id="2" />

He made all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree to it.<n id="1" /> The residents of Jerusalem acted in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the <sc>Lordsc>, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> God of their ancestors<n id="1" /> continually warned them through his messengers,<n id="2" /> for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place.

whose mother is a Danite and whose father is a Tyrian.<n id="1" /> He knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stones, and wood, as well as purple, violet, white, and crimson fabrics. He knows how to do all kinds of engraving and understands any design given to him. He will work with your skilled craftsmen and the skilled craftsmen of my lord David your father.

<p class="bodytext">Solomon sent a message to King Huram<n id="1" /> of Tyre:<n id="2" /> &#8220;Help me<n id="3" /> as you did my father David, when you sent him cedar logs<n id="4" /> for the construction of his palace.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now send me a man who is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as purple, crimson, and violet colored fabrics, and who knows how to engrave. He will work with my skilled craftsmen here in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> and Judah, whom my father David provided.

<p class="bodytext">Solomon took a census<n id="1" /> of all the male resident foreigners in the land of Israel, after the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 in all.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Solomon began building the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> on Mount Moriah, where the <sc>Lordsc> had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan<n id="2" /> the Jebusite.

When Solomon had finished constructing the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, he put the holy items that belonged to his father David (the silver, gold, and all the other articles) in the treasuries of God&#8217;s temple.p>