The Reforms of Hezekiah

1Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.   idols; group of trees, in pagan use, place where Ashtaroth was worshipped; shrines

2And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burned offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord.   divisions

3He appointed also the king’s portion of his substance for the burned offerings, that is, for the morning and evening burned offerings, and the burned offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the Lord.   share; possessions

4Moreover he commanded the people that dwelled in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord.   share; due to

5And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first-fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the fields; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.

6And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelled in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps.   dedicated

7In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.

8And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord, and His people Israel.

9Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.

10And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Azdok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord has blessed His people; and that which is left is this great store.   temple

11Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them,

12And brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next.

13And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.

14And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter toward the east, was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the Lord, and the most holy things.   gatekeeper; east gate; offerings

15And next him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set office, to give to their brethren by courses, as well to the great as to the small:   assigned position

16Beside their genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even to every one that enters into the house of the Lord, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses;   obligations

17Both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges by their courses;

18And to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their set office they sanctified themselves in holiness:

19Also of the sons of Aaron the priests, which were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every several city, the men that were expressed by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all that were reckoned by genealogies among the Levites.   every; pastures

20And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God.   did, worked

21And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.