2Kings 19
19As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the LORD.H4428H2396H8085H7167H899H3680H8242H935H1004H30682He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth.H7971H471H1004H7644H5608H2205H3548H3680H8242H3470H5030H1121H5313This is the message which he told them to give Isaiah: "Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it.H559H559H2396H3117H3117H6869H8433H5007H1121H935H4866H3581H32054The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the LORD your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive."H194H3068H430H8085H1697H7262H4428H804H113H7971H2778H2416H430H3198H1697H3068H430H8085H5375H8605H7611H46725When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message,H5650H4428H2396H935H34706he sent back this answer: "The LORD tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you with their claims that he cannot save you.H3470H559H559H113H559H3068H3372H6440H1697H8085H5288H4428H804H14427The LORD will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country, and the LORD will have him killed there."H5414H7307H8085H8052H7725H776H5307H2719H7768The Assyrian official learned that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him.H7262H7725H4672H4428H804H3898H3841H8085H5265H39239Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah of JudahH8085H559H8640H4428H3568H3318H3898H7971H4397H7725H2396H55910to tell him, "The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you.H559H2396H4428H3063H559H430H982H5377H559H3389H5414H3027H4428H80411You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape?H8085H4428H804H6213H776H2763H533712My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them.H430H1471H5337H1H7843H1470H2771H7530H1121H5729H851513Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"H4428H2574H4428H774H4428H5892H5617H2012H575514King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the LORD,H2396H3947H5612H3027H4397H7121H2396H5927H1004H3068H6566H6440H306815and prayed, "O LORD, the God of Israel, seated on your throne above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky.H2396H6419H6440H3068H559H3068H430H3478H3427H3742H430H4467H776H6213H8064H77616Now, LORD, look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God.H3068H5186H241H8085H6491H3068H5869H7200H8085H1697H5576H7971H2778H2416H43017We all know, LORD, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate,H551H3068H4428H804H2717H1471H77618and burned up their gods - which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands.H5414H430H784H430H4639H120H3027H6086H68H619Now, LORD our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that only you, O LORD, are God."H3068H430H3467H3027H4467H776H3045H3068H43020Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayerH3470H1121H531H7971H2396H559H559H3068H430H3478H6419H5576H4428H804H808521the LORD had said, "The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you.H1697H3068H1696H1330H1323H6726H959H3932H1323H3389H5128H7218H31022Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel.H2778H1442H7311H6963H5375H5869H4791H6918H347823You sent your messengers to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests.H3027H4397H2778H136H559H7230H7393H7393H5927H4791H2022H3411H3844H3772H6967H730H4004H1265H935H4411H7093H3293H376024You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.H6979H8354H2114H4325H3709H6471H2717H2975H469325"Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.H8085H7350H6213H6924H3117H3335H935H7582H1219H5892H5327H153026The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.H3427H7116H3027H2865H954H6212H7704H3419H1877H2682H1406H7711H6440H705427"But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me.H3045H3427H3318H935H726428I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth, and take you back by the same road you came."H7264H7600H5927H241H7760H2397H639H4964H8193H7725H1870H93529Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, "Here is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to plant your grain and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes.H226H398H8141H5599H8145H8141H7823H7992H8141H2232H7114H5193H3754H398H652930Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit.H7604H6413H1004H3063H3254H8328H4295H6213H6529H460531There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the LORD is determined to make this happen.H3389H3318H7611H6413H2022H6726H7068H3068H6635H621332"And this is what the LORD has said about the Assyrian emperor: 'He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it.H559H3068H4428H804H935H5892H3384H2671H6923H4043H8210H555033He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the LORD, have spoken.H1870H935H7725H935H5892H5002H306834I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.' "H1598H5892H3467H5650H173235That night an angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead!H3915H4397H3068H3318H5221H4264H804H3967H8084H2568H505H7925H1242H4191H629736Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh.H5576H4428H804H5265H3212H7725H3427H521037One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.H7812H1004H5268H430H152H8272H1121H5221H2719H4422H776H780H634H1121H4427
2Kings 20
20About this time King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and said to him, "The LORD tells you that you are to put everything in order, because you will not recover. Get ready to die."H3117H2396H2470H4191H5030H3470H1121H531H935H559H559H3068H1004H6680H4191H24212Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed:H5437H6440H7023H6419H3068H5593"Remember, LORD, that I have served you faithfully and loyally and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to." And he began to cry bitterly.H577H3068H2142H1980H6440H571H8003H3824H6213H2896H5869H2396H1058H1065H14194Isaiah left the king, but before he had passed through the central courtyard of the palace the LORD told himH3470H3318H8484H2691H5892H1697H3068H5595to go back to Hezekiah, ruler of the LORD's people, and say to him, "I, the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and in three days you will go to the Temple.H7725H559H2396H5057H5971H559H3068H430H1732H1H8085H8605H7200H1832H7495H7992H3117H5927H1004H30686I will let you live fifteen years longer. I will rescue you and this city Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria. I will defend this city, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David."H3254H3117H2568H6240H8141H5337H5892H3709H4428H804H1598H5892H5650H17327Then Isaiah told the king's attendants to put on his boil a paste made of figs, and he would get well.H3470H559H3947H1690H8384H3947H7760H7822H24218King Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign to prove that the LORD will heal me and that three days later I will be able to go to the Temple?"H2396H559H3470H226H3068H7495H5927H1004H3068H7992H31179Isaiah replied, "The LORD will give you a sign to prove that he will keep his promise. Now, would you prefer to have the shadow on the stairway go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?"H3470H559H226H3068H3068H6213H1697H1696H6738H1980H6235H4609H7725H6235H460910Hezekiah answered, "It's easy to have the shadow go forward ten steps! Have it go back ten steps."H3169H559H7043H6738H5186H6235H4609H6738H7725H322H6235H460911Isaiah prayed to the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway set up by King Ahaz.H3470H5030H7121H3068H7725H6738H6235H4609H322H4609H3381H4609H27112About that same time the king of Babylonia, Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, heard that King Hezekiah had been sick, so he sent him a letter and a present.H6256H1255H1121H1081H4428H894H7971H5612H4503H2396H8085H2396H247013Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them his wealth - his silver and gold, his spices and perfumes, and all his military equipment. There was nothing in his storerooms or anywhere in his kingdom that he did not show them.H2396H8085H7200H1004H5238H3701H2091H1314H2896H8081H1004H3627H4672H214H1697H1004H4475H2396H720014Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, "Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?" Hezekiah answered, "They came from a very distant country, from Babylonia."H935H3470H5030H4428H2396H559H559H582H370H935H2396H559H935H7350H776H89415"What did they see in the palace?" "They saw everything. There is nothing in the storerooms that I didn't show them."H559H7200H1004H2396H559H1004H7200H1697H214H720016Isaiah then told the king, "The LORD Almighty says thatH3470H559H2396H8085H1697H306817a time is coming when everything in your palace, everything that your ancestors have stored up to this day, will be carried off to Babylonia. Nothing will be left.H3117H935H1004H1H686H3117H5375H894H1697H3498H559H306818Some of your own direct descendants will be taken away and made eunuchs to serve in the palace of the king of Babylonia."H1121H3318H3205H3947H5631H1964H4428H89419King Hezekiah understood this to mean that there would be peace and security during his lifetime, so he replied, "The message you have given me from the LORD is good."H559H2396H3470H2896H1697H3068H1696H559H7965H571H311720Everything else that King Hezekiah did, his brave deeds, and an account of how he built a reservoir and dug a tunnel to bring water into the city, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.H3499H1697H2396H1369H6213H1295H8585H935H4325H5892H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H306321Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.H2396H7901H1H4519H1121H4427
2Kings 21
21Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.H4519H8147H6240H8141H1121H4427H4427H2572H2568H8141H3389H517H8034H26572Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the LORD had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the LORD.H6213H7451H5869H3068H8441H1471H3068H3423H6440H1121H34783He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he built altars for the worship of Baal and made an image of the goddess Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh also worshiped the stars.H1129H7725H1116H2396H1H6H6965H4196H1168H6213H842H6213H256H4428H3478H7812H6635H8064H56474He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the LORD had said was where he should be worshiped.H1129H4196H1004H3068H3068H559H3389H7760H80345In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.H1129H4196H6635H8064H8147H2691H1004H30686He sacrificed his son as a burnt offering. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the LORD and stirred up his anger.H1121H5674H784H6049H5172H6213H178H3049H6213H7235H7451H5869H3068H37077He placed the symbol of the goddess Asherah in the Temple, the place about which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon: "Here in Jerusalem, in this Temple, is the place that I have chosen out of all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel as the place where I am to be worshiped.H7760H6459H842H6213H1004H3068H559H1732H8010H1121H1004H3389H977H7626H3478H7760H8034H57698And if the people of Israel will obey all my commands and keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them, then I will not allow them to be driven out of the land that I gave to their ancestors."H7272H3478H5110H3254H127H5414H1H8104H6213H6680H8451H5650H4872H66809But the people of Judah did not obey the LORD, and Manasseh led them to commit even greater sins than those committed by the nations whom the LORD had driven out of the land as his people advanced.H8085H4519H8582H6213H7451H1471H3068H8045H6440H1121H347810Through his servants the prophets the LORD said,H3068H1696H3027H5650H5030H55911"King Manasseh has done these disgusting things, things far worse than what the Canaanites did; and with his idols he has led the people of Judah into sin.H4519H4428H3063H6213H8441H7489H567H6213H6440H3063H2398H154412So I, the LORD God of Israel, will bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.H559H3068H430H3478H935H7451H3389H3063H8085H8147H241H675013I will punish Jerusalem as I did Samaria, as I did King Ahab of Israel and his descendants. I will wipe Jerusalem clean of its people, as clean as a plate that has been wiped and turned upside down.H5186H3389H6957H8111H4949H1004H256H4229H3389H4229H6747H4229H2015H644014I will abandon the people who survive, and will hand them over to their enemies, who will conquer them and plunder their land.H5203H7611H5159H5414H3027H341H957H4933H34115I will do this to my people because they have sinned against me and have stirred up my anger from the time their ancestors came out of Egypt to this day."H6213H7451H5869H4480H3707H3117H1H3318H4714H311716Manasseh killed so many innocent people that the streets of Jerusalem were flowing with blood; he did this in addition to leading the people of Judah into idolatry, causing them to sin against the LORD.H4519H8210H5355H1818H3966H7235H4390H3389H6310H6310H2403H3063H2398H6213H7451H5869H306817Everything else that Manasseh did, including the sins he committed, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.H3499H1697H4519H6213H2403H2398H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H306318Manasseh died and was buried in the palace garden, the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon succeeded him as king.H4519H7901H1H6912H1588H1004H1588H5798H526H1121H442719Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years. His mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz from the town of Jotbah.H526H6242H8147H8141H1121H4427H4427H8147H8141H3389H517H8034H4922H1323H2743H319220Like his father Manasseh, he sinned against the LORD;H6213H7451H5869H3068H1H4519H621321he imitated his father's actions, and he worshiped the idols that his father had worshiped.H3212H1870H1H1980H5647H1544H1H5647H781222He rejected the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and disobeyed the LORD's commands.H5800H3068H430H1H1980H1870H306823Amon's officials plotted against him and assassinated him in the palace.H5650H526H7194H4191H4428H100424The people of Judah killed Amon's assassins and made his son Josiah king.H5971H776H5221H7194H4428H526H5971H776H2977H1121H442725Everything else that Amon did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.H3499H1697H526H6213H3789H5612H1697H3117H4428H306326Amon was buried in the tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.H6912H6900H1588H5798H2977H1121H4427
Columbus, OH
