King Joash disregarded ¹  the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada’s ²  son. As Zechariah ³  was dying, he said, “May the Lord take notice and seek vengeance!” ⁴ 

Ahaz gathered riches ¹  from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help.

We have prepared and consecrated all the items that King Ahaz removed during his reign when he acted unfaithfully. They are in front of the altar of the Lord.”

Then the priests slaughtered them. They offered their blood as a sin offering on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had decreed ¹  that the burnt sacrifice and sin offering were for all Israel.

King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the Lord, using the psalms ¹  of David and Asaph the prophet. ²  So they joyfully offered praise and bowed down and worshiped.

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹ 

The king contributed ¹  some of what he owned for burnt sacrifices, including the morning and evening burnt sacrifices and the burnt sacrifices made on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other appointed times prescribed ²  in the law of the Lord.

The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they ¹  made his son Josiah king in his place.

Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king.

So all the preparations for the Lord’s service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, as prescribed by King Josiah.

He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials.

In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought ¹  up to Jerusalem ²  some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.

What follows ¹  is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priestly scribe. ²  Ezra was ³  a scribe in matters pertaining to the commandments of the Lord and his statutes over Israel:

¹ Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem!

and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels intended for the temple of our God – items that the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present had contributed.

Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, ¹  I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously ²  I had not been depressed ³  in the king’s presence. ⁴ 

So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.

I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ¹  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ²  by fire?”

After him Palal son of Uzai worked ¹  opposite the buttress and the tower that protrudes from the upper palace ²  of the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh

¹ The following events happened ²  in the days of Ahasuerus. ³  (I am referring to ⁴  that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces ⁵  extending all the way from India to Ethiopia. ⁶ )