Early the next morning King Hezekiah assembled the city officials and went up to the Lord’s temple.

Early the next morning they marched out to the Desert of Tekoa. When they were ready to march, Jehoshaphat stood up and said: “Listen to me, you people of Judah ¹  and residents of Jerusalem! Trust in the Lord your God and you will be safe! ²  Trust in the message of his prophets and you will win.”

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in his ancestor ¹  David’s footsteps at the beginning of his reign. ²  He did not seek the Baals,

The Lord God of their ancestors ¹  continually warned them through his messengers, ²  for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place.

All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival ¹  in the seventh month. ² 

In the third month they began piling their contributions in heaps ¹  and finished in the seventh month.

Josiah observed a Passover festival for the Lord in Jerusalem. ¹  They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.

On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the Lord’s temple. ¹  For eight more days they consecrated the Lord’s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.