2 Chronicles 31

¹ When all this had ended, the Israelites who were present went out to the towns of Judah. They smashed the sacred stones, cut down the Asherah poles and tore down the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their own towns, each to his own property.

² Hezekiah assigned the priests and the Levites to their divisions, each according to his service as priest or Levite, for burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to sing praise at the gates of the LORD's camp.

³ The king contributed from his own possessions for the burnt offerings — the morning and evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the New Moons and the appointed festivals — as written in the Law of the LORD.

⁴ He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they could give themselves fully to the Law of the LORD.

⁵ As soon as the order went out, the Israelites gave generously of the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and of everything the fields produced. They brought a tithe of everything, and it was a great amount.

⁶ The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the LORD their God, and they piled them up in heaps.

⁷ They began the heaps in the third month and finished them in the seventh month.

⁸ When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the LORD and blessed his people Israel.

⁹ Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps.

¹⁰ Azariah the chief priest, of the family of Zadok, answered him, 'Since the people began bringing their contributions to the temple of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, for the LORD has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.'

¹¹ Then Hezekiah gave orders to prepare storerooms in the temple of the LORD, and they prepared them.

¹² They faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes and the dedicated gifts. Conaniah the Levite was in charge of them, and his brother Shimei was second in rank.

¹³ Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath and Benaiah were overseers under Conaniah and his brother Shimei, appointed by King Hezekiah and by Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.

¹⁴ Kore son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the East Gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings given to God; he distributed the contributions made to the LORD and the most holy offerings.

¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah assisted him faithfully in the towns of the priests, distributing to their fellow priests by their divisions, old and young alike.

¹⁶ In addition, they distributed to the males three years old and upward who were listed in the genealogical records — all who would enter the temple of the LORD to carry out the daily duties of their service, by their responsibilities and their divisions.

¹⁷ They also distributed to the priests enrolled by their families in the genealogical records and to the Levites twenty years old and upward, by their responsibilities and their divisions.

¹⁸ The genealogical records also included all their little children, wives, sons and daughters — the whole community — for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy.

¹⁹ As for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who lived on the pasturelands around their towns, men were designated by name in every town to give portions to every male among the priests and to everyone listed in the genealogies of the Levites.

²⁰ This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah; he did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God.

²¹ And in everything he undertook in the service of the temple of God and in the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly, and so he prospered.