The Destruction of Idols

1And at the completion of all this, went out all Israel who were present to the cities of Judah, and they broke in pieces the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles, and threw down the high places and the altars from all Judah and Benjamin, and Ephraim and Manasseh, even to completion, and all the sons of Israel returned, each man to his possession, to their cities.

2And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve, and to give thanks, and to give praise in the gates of the camps of YHWH.

Contributions for Worship

3And a portion of the king was from his possessions for the burnt offerings, for burnt offerings of the morning and of the evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and for the appointed times, as it is written in the Law of YHWH. 4And he told the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and of the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of YHWH.

5And at the spreading forth of the word, the sons of Israel multiplied the firstfruits of grain, and wine, and oil, and honey, and all the produce of the field; and they brought in the tithe of all the abundance. 6And the sons of Israel and Judah who dwelt in the cities of Judah, even they, brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of the holy things which were consecrated to YHWH their God, and they placed them in heaps upon heaps.

7In the third month they began laying them in heaps, and in the seventh month they finished. 8And the leaders came, and Hezekiah, and they saw the heaps, and they blessed YHWH and His people Israel.

9And Hezekiah inquired with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. 10And Azariah the chief priest from the house of Zadok answered him and said, “From the beginning of the bringing of the contribution to the house of YHWH, there is an abundance to eat and to be satisfied and to leave over, for YHWH has blessed His people; and this store is left over.”

Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

11And Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of YHWH, and they prepared them. 12And they brought in the contribution and the tithes and the dedicated things in faithfulness. And over them was a leader, Conaniah the Levite, and Shimei his brother second. 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 Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.

14And Kore son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east, was over the freewill offerings to God, to give the contribution of YHWH, and the holy of holies.† 15And under him were Eden, and Minjamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in faithfulness to give to their brothers by divisions, to the great as well as the small,†

16apart from their genealogy, to males from a son of three years and up—to everyone who entered the house of YHWH, by the matter of a day in its day, for their service in their charges, by their divisions— 17and to the priests in the genealogy according to the house of their fathers, and to the Levites from a son of twenty years and up, according to their work, by their divisions, 18and to the genealogy among all their little ones, and their wives, and their sons and daughters, the whole company of them. For in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in holiness.

19And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, in the fields of the pasturelands of their cities, in every city and city, were men who were designated by name to distribute portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were reckoned by genealogies among the Levites.

20And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and he did the good and the right and the true before YHWH his God. 21And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandment, to seek his God with all his heart, he did it. And he prospered.