2Kings 19
19When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the LORD.H4428H2396H8085H7167H899H3680H8242H935H1004H30682And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.H7971H471H1004H7644H5608H2205H3548H3680H8242H3470H5030H1121H5313They told him, "This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby.H559H559H2396H3117H3117H6869H8433H5007H1121H935H4866H3581H32054But perhaps the LORD your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!"H194H3068H430H8085H1697H7262H4428H804H113H7971H2778H2416H430H3198H1697H3068H430H8085H5375H8605H7611H46725After King Hezekiah's officials delivered the king's message to Isaiah,H5650H4428H2396H935H34706the prophet replied, "Say to your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king's messengers.H3470H559H559H113H559H3068H3372H6440H1697H8085H5288H4428H804H14427Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.'"H5414H7307H8085H8052H7725H776H5307H2719H7768Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.H7262H7725H4672H4428H804H3898H3841H8085H5265H39239Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message.H8085H559H8640H4428H3568H3318H3898H7971H4397H7725H2396H55910"This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don't let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.H559H2396H4428H3063H559H430H982H5377H559H3389H5414H3027H4428H80411You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?H8085H4428H804H6213H776H2763H533712Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all!H430H1471H5337H1H7843H1470H2771H7530H1121H5729H851513What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"H4428H2574H4428H774H4428H5892H5617H2012H575514After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the LORD's Temple and spread it out before the LORD.H2396H3947H5612H3027H4397H7121H2396H5927H1004H3068H6566H6440H306815And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.H2396H6419H6440H3068H559H3068H430H3478H3427H3742H430H4467H776H6213H8064H77616Bend down, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God.H3068H5186H241H8085H6491H3068H5869H7200H8085H1697H5576H7971H2778H2416H43017"It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations.H551H3068H4428H804H2717H1471H77618And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.H5414H430H784H430H4639H120H3027H6086H68H619Now, O LORD our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O LORD, are God."H3068H430H3467H3027H4467H776H3045H3068H43020Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria.H3470H1121H531H7971H2396H559H559H3068H430H3478H6419H5576H4428H804H808521And the LORD has spoken this word against him: "The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee.H1697H3068H1696H1330H1323H6726H959H3932H1323H3389H5128H7218H31022"Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel!H2778H1442H7311H6963H5375H5869H4791H6918H347823By your messengers you have defied the Lord. You have said, 'With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains—yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest corners and explored its deepest forests.H3027H4397H2778H136H559H7230H7393H7393H5927H4791H2022H3411H3844H3772H6967H730H4004H1265H935H4411H7093H3293H376024I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!'H6979H8354H2114H4325H3709H6471H2717H2975H469325"But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.H8085H7350H6213H6924H3117H3335H935H7582H1219H5892H5327H153026That is why their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can grow lush and tall.H3427H7116H3027H2865H954H6212H7704H3419H1877H2682H1406H7711H6440H705427"But I know you well—where you stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged against me.H3045H3427H3318H935H726428And because of your raging against me and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you came."H7264H7600H5927H241H7760H2397H639H4964H8193H7725H1870H93529Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Here is the proof that what I say is true: "This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.H226H398H8141H5599H8145H8141H7823H7992H8141H2232H7114H5193H3754H398H652930And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will put roots down in your own soil and will grow up and flourish.H7604H6413H1004H3063H3254H8328H4295H6213H6529H460531For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group of survivors from Mount Zion. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven's Armies will make this happen!H3389H3318H7611H6413H2022H6726H7068H3068H6635H621332"And this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: "His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls.H559H3068H4428H804H935H5892H3384H2671H6923H4043H8210H555033The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He will not enter this city, says the LORD.H1870H935H7725H935H5892H5002H306834For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it."H1598H5892H3467H5650H173235That night the angel of the LORD went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.H3915H4397H3068H3318H5221H4264H804H3967H8084H2568H505H7925H1242H4191H629736Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.H5576H4428H804H5265H3212H7725H3427H521037One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.H7812H1004H5268H430H152H8272H1121H5221H2719H4422H776H780H634H1121H4427
2Kings 20
20About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: "This is what the LORD says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness."H3117H2396H2470H4191H5030H3470H1121H531H935H559H559H3068H1004H6680H4191H24212When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,H5437H6440H7023H6419H3068H5593"Remember, O LORD, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you." Then he broke down and wept bitterly.H577H3068H2142H1980H6440H571H8003H3824H6213H2896H5869H2396H1058H1065H14194But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the LORD.H3470H3318H8484H2691H5892H1697H3068H5595"Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD.H7725H559H2396H5057H5971H559H3068H430H1732H1H8085H8605H7200H1832H7495H7992H3117H5927H1004H30686I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.'"H3254H3117H2568H6240H8141H5337H5892H3709H4428H804H1598H5892H5650H17327Then Isaiah said, "Make an ointment from figs." So Hezekiah's servants spread the ointment over the boil, and Hezekiah recovered!H3470H559H3947H1690H8384H3947H7760H7822H24218Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, "What sign will the LORD give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of the LORD three days from now?"H2396H559H3470H226H3068H7495H5927H1004H3068H7992H31179Isaiah replied, "This is the sign from the LORD to prove that he will do as he promised. Would you like the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?"H3470H559H226H3068H3068H6213H1697H1696H6738H1980H6235H4609H7725H6235H460910"The shadow always moves forward," Hezekiah replied, "so that would be easy. Make it go ten steps backward instead."H3169H559H7043H6738H5186H6235H4609H6738H7725H322H6235H460911So Isaiah the prophet asked the LORD to do this, and he caused the shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!H3470H5030H7121H3068H7725H6738H6235H4609H322H4609H3381H4609H27112Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick.H6256H1255H1121H1081H4428H894H7971H5612H4503H2396H8085H2396H247013Hezekiah received the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.H2396H8085H7200H1004H5238H3701H2091H1314H2896H8081H1004H3627H4672H214H1697H1004H4475H2396H720014Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did those men want? Where were they from?" Hezekiah replied, "They came from the distant land of Babylon."H935H3470H5030H4428H2396H559H559H582H370H935H2396H559H935H7350H776H89415"What did they see in your palace?" Isaiah asked."They saw everything," Hezekiah replied. "I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries."H559H7200H1004H2396H559H1004H7200H1697H214H720016Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to this message from the LORD.H3470H559H2396H8085H1697H306817The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.H3117H935H1004H1H686H3117H5375H894H1697H3498H559H306818Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon's king."H1121H3318H3205H3947H5631H1964H4428H89419Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "This message you have given me from the LORD is good." For the king was thinking, "At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime."H559H2396H3470H2896H1697H3068H1696H559H7965H571H311720The rest of the events in Hezekiah's reign, including the extent of his power and how he built a pool and dug a tunnel to bring water into the city, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.H3499H1697H2396H1369H6213H1295H8585H935H4325H5892H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H306321Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became the next king.H2396H7901H1H4519H1121H4427
2Kings 21
21Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.H4519H8147H6240H8141H1121H4427H4427H2572H2568H8141H3389H517H8034H26572He did what was evil in the LORD's sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.H6213H7451H5869H3068H8441H1471H3068H3423H6440H1121H34783He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.H1129H7725H1116H2396H1H6H6965H4196H1168H6213H842H6213H256H4428H3478H7812H6635H8064H56474He built pagan altars in the Temple of the LORD, the place where the LORD had said, "My name will remain in Jerusalem forever."H1129H4196H1004H3068H3068H559H3389H7760H80345He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the LORD's Temple.H1129H4196H6635H8064H8147H2691H1004H30686Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the LORD's sight, arousing his anger.H1121H5674H784H6049H5172H6213H178H3049H6213H7235H7451H5869H3068H37077Manasseh even made a carved image of Asherah and set it up in the Temple, the very place where the LORD had told David and his son Solomon: "My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem—the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel.H7760H6459H842H6213H1004H3068H559H1732H8010H1121H1004H3389H977H7626H3478H7760H8034H57698If the Israelites will be careful to obey my commands—all the laws my servant Moses gave them—I will not send them into exile from this land that I gave their ancestors."H7272H3478H5110H3254H127H5414H1H8104H6213H6680H8451H5650H4872H66809But the people refused to listen, and Manasseh led them to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the LORD had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.H8085H4519H8582H6213H7451H1471H3068H8045H6440H1121H347810Then the LORD said through his servants the prophets.H3068H1696H3027H5650H5030H55911"King Manasseh of Judah has done many detestable things. He is even more wicked than the Amorites, who lived in this land before Israel. He has caused the people of Judah to sin with his idols.H4519H4428H3063H6213H8441H7489H567H6213H6440H3063H2398H154412So this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of those who hear about it will tingle with horror.H559H3068H430H3478H935H7451H3389H3063H8085H8147H241H675013I will judge Jerusalem by the same standard I used for Samaria and the same measure I used for the family of Ahab. I will wipe away the people of Jerusalem as one wipes a dish and turns it upside down.H5186H3389H6957H8111H4949H1004H256H4229H3389H4229H6747H4229H2015H644014Then I will reject even the remnant of my own people who are left, and I will hand them over as plunder for their enemies.H5203H7611H5159H5414H3027H341H957H4933H34115For they have done great evil in my sight and have angered me ever since their ancestors came out of Egypt."H6213H7451H5869H4480H3707H3117H1H3318H4714H311716Manasseh also murdered many innocent people until Jerusalem was filled from one end to the other with innocent blood. This was in addition to the sin that he caused the people of Judah to commit, leading them to do evil in the LORD's sight.H4519H8210H5355H1818H3966H7235H4390H3389H6310H6310H2403H3063H2398H6213H7451H5869H306817The rest of the events in Manasseh's reign and everything he did, including the sins he committed, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.H3499H1697H4519H6213H2403H2398H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H306318When Manasseh died, he was buried in the palace garden, the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon became the next king.H4519H7901H1H6912H1588H1004H1588H5798H526H1121H442719Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.H526H6242H8147H8141H1121H4427H4427H8147H8141H3389H517H8034H4922H1323H2743H319220He did what was evil in the LORD's sight, just as his father, Manasseh, had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H1H4519H621321He followed the example of his father, worshiping the same idols his father had worshiped.H3212H1870H1H1980H5647H1544H1H5647H781222He abandoned the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and he refused to follow the LORD's ways.H5800H3068H430H1H1980H1870H306823Then Amon's own officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace.H5650H526H7194H4191H4428H100424But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah the next king.H5971H776H5221H7194H4428H526H5971H776H2977H1121H442725The rest of the events in Amon's reign and what he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.H3499H1697H526H6213H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H306326He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Josiah became the next king.H6912H6900H1588H5798H2977H1121H4427
Dublin, OH
, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!"H194
