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JULY 16
South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, month, he opened the doors of the house of
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Aijalon, Gederoth, Sochoh with its villages, the LORD and repaired them. Then he
Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its brought in the priests and the Levites, and
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villages; and they dwelt there. For the LORD gathered them in the East Square, and said to
brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Is- them: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify your-
rael, for he had encouraged moral decline in selves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of
Judah and had been continually unfaithful to your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from
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the LORD. Also Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria the holy place. For our fathers have tres-
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came to him and distressed him, and did not passed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD
assist him. For Ahaz took part of the treasures our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned
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from the house of the LORD, from the house of their faces away from the dwelling place of the
the king, and from the leaders, and he gave it LORD, and turned their backs on Him. They
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to the king of Assyria; but he did not help him. have also shut up the doors of the vestibule,
Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz put out the lamps, and have not burned
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became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD. incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy
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This is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to place to the God of Israel. Therefore the
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the gods of Damascus which had defeated wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusa-
him, saying, “Because the gods of the kings of lem, and He has given them up to trouble, to
Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that desolation, and to jeering, as you see with
they may help me.” But they were the ruin of your eyes. For indeed, because of this our
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him and of all Israel. So Ahaz gathered the fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons,
articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the our daughters, and our wives are in captivity.
articles of the house of God, shut up the doors 10 “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant
of the house of the LORD, and made for himself with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce
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altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in wrath may turn away from us. My sons, do not
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every single city of Judah he made high places be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you
to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you
to anger the LORD God of his fathers. should minister to Him and burn incense.”
Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, Then these Levites arose: Mahath the son
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from first to last, indeed they are written in the of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, of the
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book of the kings of Judah and Israel. So sons of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari,
Ahaz rested with his fathers, and they buried Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of
him in the city, in Jerusalem; but they did not Jehallelel; of the Gershonites, Joah the son of
bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; of the
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Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; of the
Hezekiah became king when he was sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; of
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29 twenty-five years old, and he reigned the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and of
twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 15 And they gathered their brethren, sancti-
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And he did what was right in the sight of the fied themselves, and went according to the
LORD, according to all that his father David commandment of the king, at the words of the
had done. LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD. Then
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In the first year of his reign, in the first the priests went into the inner part of the
house of the LORD to cleanse it, and brought
out all the debris that they found in the temple
of the LORD to the court of the house of the
LORD. And the Levites took it out and carried
29:3 first year…first month. Hezekiah
addressed the spiritual problems first, which it to the Brook Kidron.
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reflected his life priorities. Hezekiah correctly Now they began to sanctify on the first day
diagnosed Judah’s ills—she had abandoned of the first month, and on the eighth day of the
the true worship of God. So the king stepped month they came to the vestibule of the LORD.
in to reverse the policy of his father (28:22–25) So they sanctified the house of the LORD in
and to repair the temple and return proper eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the
temple worship as God had prescribed in His first month they finished.
Word (vv.3–7).He knew such a revival of devo- 18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and
tion to God would turn God’s wrath away from said, “We have cleansed all the house of the
Judah (v. 10). LORD, the altar of burnt offerings with all its arti-
cles, and the table of the showbread with all its
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