2 Chronicles 31:1-13 ▼

1 NOW when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces and cut down the leopard statues and demolished the shrines and the altars that were in Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then the Israelites returned, every man to his possession; and they entered in peace into their own cities.

2 And Hezekiah appointed the times of serving of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, every man according to his service, the priests and the Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the temple of the LORD.

3 And the king gave of his own substance oxen for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD.

4 Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.

5 And as soon as the commandment was published in Israel, they brought the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, and of their cattle, and of the produce of the field; and the tithe of all things they brought in abundantly.

6 And the children of Israel and Judah who dwelt in the cities of Judah also brought in gifts and offered them to the LORD their God. And they brought in tithes upon tithes of grain, of wine, and of their cattle, and of the produce of the field. They brought the tithes and consecrated them to the LORD their God.

7 In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the tithe supplies, and in the seventh month Hezekiah took it and distributed it among the priests and the Levites.

8 And when Hezekiah and the princes saw that the tithe of the priests was so abundant, they blessed the LORD and prayed for Israel.

9 Then Hezekiah prayed for the priests and for the Levites concerning the abundance of the tithe.

10 And he called for Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok and said to him, This tithe is ready for you, to be eaten, because it has been brought into the house of the LORD, now you can eat and be filled, and what is left of it, give it to the poor and to the fatherless, for the LORD has blessed his people and has given them this abundance. And what is left, give it to all the people of Israel.

11 Then Hezekiah commanded that storehouses be prepared in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them,

12 And they brought in the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully; over them Cononiah the Levite was overseer and Shimei his brother was the next.

13 And Nehiel, Uzziah, Nahath, Ashail, Jerimoth, Jozabar, Eliel, Ismachiah, Matah, Benaiah, and Shemiah his brother were overseers under the hand of Cononiah, at the command of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of the LORD.