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But a man of God came to him and said, "Your Majesty, do not hire troops from Israel, for the Lord is not with Israel. He will not help those people of Ephraim!

Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about all that silver I paid to hire the army of Israel?" The man of God replied, "The Lord is able to give you much more than this!"

But the king interrupted him and said, "Since when have I made you the king's counselor? Be quiet now before I have you killed!" So the prophet stopped with this warning: "I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have refused to accept my counsel."

But King Jehoash of Israel replied to King Amaziah of Judah with this story: "Out in the Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to a mighty cedar tree: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.' But just then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it!

"You are saying, ‘I have defeated Edom,' and you are very proud of it. But my advice is to stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?"

But Amaziah refused to listen, for God was determined to destroy him for turning to the gods of Edom.

After Amaziah turned away from the Lord , there was a conspiracy against his life in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But his enemies sent assassins after him, and they killed him there.

But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord 's Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.

Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord 's Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead.

Jotham did what was pleasing in the Lord 's sight. He did everything his father, Uzziah, had done, except that Jotham did not sin by entering the Temple of the Lord . But the people continued in their corrupt ways.

But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there in Samaria when the army of Israel returned home. He went out to meet them and said, "The Lord , the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and let you defeat them. But you have gone too far, killing them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed.

Ahaz took valuable items from the Lord 's Temple, the royal palace, and from the homes of his officials and gave them to the king of Assyria as tribute. But this did not help him.

He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, for he said, "Since these gods helped the kings of Aram, they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them." But instead, they led to his ruin and the ruin of all Judah.

When Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal cemetery of the kings of Judah. Then his son Hezekiah became the next king.

But now I will make a covenant with the Lord , the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.

But there were too few priests to prepare all the burnt offerings. So their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was finished and more priests had been purified, for the Levites had been more conscientious about purifying themselves than the priests had been.

Do not be stubborn, as they were, but submit yourselves to the Lord . Come to his Temple, which he has set apart as holy forever. Worship the Lord your God so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.

The runners went from town to town throughout Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as the territory of Zebulun. But most of the people just laughed at the runners and made fun of them.

Most of those who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not purified themselves. But King Hezekiah prayed for them, and they were allowed to eat the Passover meal anyway, even though this was contrary to the requirements of the Law. For Hezekiah said, "May the Lord , who is good, pardon those

He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!" Hezekiah's words greatly encouraged the people.