4. Hezekiah commanded the people living in Jerusalem to give the priests and Levites the portion that belonged to them. Then the priests and Levites could give all their time to the Lord’s Teachings.
5. As soon as the king’s command went out to the Israelites, they gave freely of the first portion of their grain, new wine, oil, honey, and everything they grew in their fields. They brought a large amount, one-tenth of everything.
6. The people of Israel and Judah who lived in Judah also brought one-tenth of their cattle and sheep and one-tenth of the holy things that were given to the Lord their God, and they put all of them in piles.
7. The people began the piles in the third month and finished in the seventh month.
8. When Hezekiah and his officers came and saw the piles, they praised the Lord and his people, the people of Israel.
9. Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the piles.
10. Azariah, the leading priest from Zadok’s family, answered Hezekiah, “Since the people began to bring their offerings to the Temple of the Lord, we have had plenty to eat and plenty left over, because the Lord has blessed his people. So we have all this left over.”
11. Then Hezekiah commanded the priests to prepare the storerooms in the Temple of the Lord. So this was done.