The Second Book of Kings, starting at chapter 19
{19:1} It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his
clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house
of Yahweh. {19:2} He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with
sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. {19:3} They said to
him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke,
and of rejection; for the children are come to the birth, and there is
not strength to bring forth. {19:4} It may be Yahweh your God will
hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master
has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which
Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the
remnant that is left. {19:5} So the servants of king Hezekiah came to
Isaiah. {19:6} Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you tell your master,
Thus says Yahweh, Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard,
with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
{19:7} Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear news, and
shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the
sword in his own land. {19:8} So Rabshakeh returned, and found the
king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was
departed from Lachish. {19:9} When he heard say of Tirhakah king of
Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against you, he sent
messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, {19:10} Thus shall you speak to
Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Don't let your God in whom you trust
deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the
king of Assyria. {19:11} Behold, you have heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall
you be delivered? {19:12} Have the gods of the nations delivered them,
which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the
children of Eden that were in Telassar? {19:13} Where is the king of
Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim,
of Hena, and Ivvah? {19:14} Hezekiah received the letter from the hand
of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of
Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. {19:15} Hezekiah prayed before
Yahweh, and said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sit [above] the
cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the
earth; you have made heaven and earth. {19:16} Incline your ear,
Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, Yahweh, and see; and hear the words
of Sennacherib, with which he has sent him to defy the living God.
{19:17} Of a truth, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the
nations and their lands, {19:18} and have cast their gods into the
fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and
stone; therefore they have destroyed them. {19:19} Now therefore,
Yahweh our God, save you us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that you Yahweh are God alone. {19:20}
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says
Yahweh, the God of Israel, Whereas you have prayed to me against
Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard [you]. {19:21} This is the
word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of
Zion has despised you and ridiculed you; the daughter of Jerusalem has
shaken her head at you. {19:22} Whom have you defied and blasphemed?
and against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes
on high? [even] against the Holy One of Israel. {19:23} By your
messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, With the multitude
of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the
innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars of it,
and the choice fir trees of it; and I will enter into his farthest
lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field. {19:24} I have dug
and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up
all the rivers of Egypt. {19:25} Haven't you heard how I have done it
long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to
pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into
ruinous heaps. {19:26} Therefore their inhabitants were of small
power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of
the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and
as grain blasted before it is grown up. {19:27} But I know your
sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging
against me. {19:28} Because of your raging against me, and because
your arrogance is come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook
in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by
the way by which you came. {19:29} This shall be the sign to you: You
shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year
that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow you, and
reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it. {19:30} The
remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root
downward, and bear fruit upward. {19:31} For out of Jerusalem shall go
forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape: the
zeal of Yahweh shall perform this. {19:32} Therefore thus says Yahweh
concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come to this city, nor
shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor
cast up a mound against it. {19:33} By the way that he came, by the
same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city, says Yahweh.
{19:34} For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and
for my servant David's sake. {19:35} It happened that night, that the
angel of Yahweh went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians
one hundred eighty-five thousand: and when men arose early in the
morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. {19:36} So Sennacherib
king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.
{19:37} It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his
god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword: and they
escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his
place.
{20:1} In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet
the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Set
your house in order: for you shall die, and not live. {20:2} Then he
turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, {20:3}
Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth
and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your
sight. Hezekiah wept sore. {20:4} It happened, before Isaiah was gone
out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to
him, saying, {20:5} Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my
people, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, I have heard
your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will heal you; on the
third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh. {20:6} I will add to
your days fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city out of
the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for my
own sake, and for my servant David's sake. {20:7} Isaiah said, Take a
cake of figs. They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
{20:8} Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that Yahweh
will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third
day? {20:9} Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh,
that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go
forward ten steps, or go back ten steps? {20:10} Hezekiah answered, It
is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten steps: nay, but let the
shadow return backward ten steps. {20:11} Isaiah the prophet cried to
Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had
gone down on the dial of Ahaz. {20:12} At that time Berodach Baladan
the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to
Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. {20:13}
Hezekiah listened to them, and shown them all the house of his
precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the
precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in
his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his
dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them. {20:14} Then came Isaiah the
prophet to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men? and
from whence came they to you? Hezekiah said, They are come from a far
country, even from Babylon. {20:15} He said, What have they seen in
your house? Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen:
there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.
{20:16} Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh. {20:17}
Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which
your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to
Babylon: nothing shall be left, says Yahweh. {20:18} Of your sons who
shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and
they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. {20:19}
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of Yahweh which you
have spoken. He said moreover, Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall
be in my days? {20:20} Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all
his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought
water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Judah? {20:21} Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and
Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
{21:1} Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was
Hephzibah. {21:2} He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh,
after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the
children of Israel. {21:3} For he built again the high places which
Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal,
and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the
army of the sky, and served them. {21:4} He built altars in the house
of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
{21:5} He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts
of the house of Yahweh. {21:6} He made his son to pass through the
fire, and practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and dealt with
those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil
in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. {21:7} He set the
engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which
Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in
Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I
put my name forever; {21:8} neither will I cause the feet of Israel to
wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only
they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them,
and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
{21:9} But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that
which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before
the children of Israel. {21:10} Yahweh spoke by his servants the
prophets, saying, {21:11} Because Manasseh king of Judah has done
these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites
did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his
idols; {21:12} therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Behold,
I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it,
both his ears shall tingle. {21:13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the
line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe
Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
{21:14} I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver
them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and
a spoil to all their enemies; {21:15} because they have done that
which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the
day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day. {21:16}
Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled
Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made
Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
{21:17} Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and
his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Judah? {21:18} Manasseh slept with his
fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden
of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place. {21:19} Amon was
twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years
in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of
Haruz of Jotbah. {21:20} He did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father. {21:21} He walked in all the way
that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father
served, and worshiped them: {21:22} and he forsook Yahweh, the God of
his fathers, and didn't walk in the way of Yahweh. {21:23} The
servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in
his own house. {21:24} But the people of the land killed all those who
had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made
Josiah his son king in his place. {21:25} Now the rest of the acts of
Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Judah? {21:26} He was buried in his tomb in the garden
of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
___
This Bible reading mailing list and web site are paid for by donations
marked "World English Bible project" and payable to:
Rainbow Missions
PO BOX 275
MESA CO 81643-0275
To help support the senior editor, please see http://eBible.org/mpj/
To cancel your free email subscription, please send
email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe bible
in the body of the message OR go to http://ebible.org/subscribe.htm
