<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> put fear into all the kingdoms surrounding Judah;<n id="1" /> they did not make war with Jehoshaphat.

The king said to him, &#8220;How many times must I make you solemnly promise in<n id="1" /> the name of the <sc>Lordsc> to tell me only the truth?&#8221;

Micaiah said, &#8220;If you really do return safely, then the <sc>Lordsc> has not spoken through me!&#8221; Then he added, &#8220;Take note,<n id="1" /> all you people.&#8221;p>

He told the judges, &#8220;Be careful what you do,<n id="1" /> for you are not judging for men, but for the <sc>Lordsc>, who will be with you when you make judicial decisions.

Our God, you drove out<n id="1" /> the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession<n id="2" /> to the descendants of your friend<n id="3" /> Abraham.

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>

<p class="bodytext">But Amaziah did not heed the warning,<n id="1" /> for God wanted to hand them over to Joash because they followed the gods of Edom.<n id="2" />

The rest of the events of Amaziah&#8217;s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.<n id="1" />

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" />

And now you are planning<n id="1" /> to enslave<n id="2" /> the people<n id="3" /> of Judah and Jerusalem. Yet are you not also guilty before the <sc>Lordsc> your God?

Ahaz gathered riches<n id="1" /> from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.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>

There was a great celebration in Jerusalem, unlike anything that had occurred in Jerusalem since the time of King Solomon son of David of Israel.<n id="1" />

Hezekiah says, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> our God will rescue us from the power<n id="1" /> of the king of Assyria.&#8221; But he is misleading you and you will die of hunger and thirst!<n id="2" />

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s<n id="2" /> high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, &#8220;At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.&#8221;

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" />

But Hezekiah was ungrateful; he had a proud attitude, provoking God to be angry at him, as well as Judah and Jerusalem.<n id="1" />

But then Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem humbled themselves and abandoned their pride, and the <sc>Lordsc> was not angry with them for the rest of Hezekiah&#8217;s reign.<n id="1" />p>

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices<n id="1" /> to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made.<n id="2" /> My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!&#8217;&#8221;