Fire from Heaven

7 ^(A)As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, ^(B)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, ^(C)and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ² And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. ³ When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, ^(D)for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The Dedication of the Temple

^4 (E)Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ The priests stood at their posts; ^(F)the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—^(G)for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry;^{[a] (H)}opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.

^7 (I)And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

⁸ At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from ^(J)Lebo-hamath to the ^(K)Brook of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity^[b] that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

If My People Pray

^11 (L)Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. ¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer ^(M)and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (N)When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name ^(O)humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ^15 (P)Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ^16 (Q)For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. ¹⁷ And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, ¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ^(R)‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

^19 (S)“But if you^[c] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ^20 (T)then I will pluck you^[d] up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it ^(U)a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹ And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ^(V)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²² Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help

37 ^(A)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet ^(B)Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^(C)day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; ^(D)children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ^4 (E)It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(F)the remnant that is left.’”

⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Behold, ^(G)I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(H)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and ^(I)I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(J)Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left ^(K)Lachish. ⁹ Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of ^(L)Cush,^[a] “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ^(M)‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (N)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(O)Gozan, ^(P)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (Q)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, ^(R)enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ^(S)you have made heaven and earth. ^17 (T)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear ^(U)all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, ^(V)the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹ 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 were destroyed. ²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Sennacherib's Fall

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

³⁰ “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah ^(AF)shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ^32 (AG)For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. ^(AH)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or ^(AI)cast up a siege mound against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^35 (AJ)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for ^(AK)the sake of my servant David.”

^36 (AL)And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at ^(AM)Nineveh. ³⁸ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of ^(AN)Ararat, ^(AO)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.