In addition, many of those who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not performed the ritual of purification, and so they were observing Passover improperly. King Hezekiah offered this prayer for them:

For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the LORD with all their strength.

From all the tribes of Israel people who sincerely wanted to worship the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, so that they could offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

Some men joined him and believed, among whom was Dionysius, a member of the council; there was also a woman named Damaris, and some other people.

The king and the leaders admitted that they had sinned, and they said, "What the LORD is doing is just."

When the LORD saw this, he spoke again to Shemaiah and said to him, "Because they admit their sin, I will not destroy them. But when Shishak attacks, they will barely survive. Jerusalem will not feel the full force of my anger,

Because he submitted to the LORD, the LORD's anger did not completely destroy him, and things went well for Judah.

In his suffering he became humble, turned to the LORD his God, and begged him for help.

The king's prayer and God's answer to it, and an account of the sins he committed before he repented---the evil he did, the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah that he made and the idols that he worshiped---are all recorded in The History of the Prophets.

But unlike his father, he did not become humble and turn to the LORD; he was even more sinful than his father had been.

and you repented and humbled yourself before me, tearing your clothes and weeping, when you heard how I threatened to punish Jerusalem and its people. I have heard your prayer,

So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, "The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says, 'How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion,

"But you, his son, have not humbled yourself, even though you knew all this.

For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."

I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time.