Hezekiah King of Judah^(A)(B)(C)

18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah^(D) son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.^(E) His mother’s name was Abijah^[a] daughter of Zechariah. ³ He did what was right^(F) in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David^(G) had done. ⁴ He removed^(H) the high places,^(I) smashed the sacred stones^(J) and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake^(K) Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.^[b])

⁵ Hezekiah trusted^(L) in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. ⁶ He held fast^(M) to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. ⁷ And the Lord was with him; he was successful^(N) in whatever he undertook. He rebelled^(O) against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸ From watchtower to fortified city,^(P) he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.

⁹ In King Hezekiah’s fourth year,^(Q) which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ¹⁰ At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹ The king^(R) of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.^{(S) 12} This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant^(T)—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.^(U) They neither listened to the commands^(V) nor carried them out.

¹³ In the fourteenth year^(W) of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah^(X) and captured them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^(Y) “I have done wrong.^(Z) Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[c] of silver and thirty talents^[d] of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah gave^(AA) him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶ At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors^(AB) and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(AC)(AD)

¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^(AE) his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^(AF) on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸ They called for the king; and Eliakim^(AG) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^(AH) the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(AN) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷ But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(AO) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(AP) and drink water from your own cistern,^{(AQ) 32} until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(AR) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³ Has the god^(AS) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath^(AT) and Arpad?^(AU) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(AV)

³⁶ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷ Then Eliakim^(AW) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(AX) and told him what the field commander had said.

Hezekiah’s Illness^(A)

20 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Remember,^(B) Lord, how I have walked^(C) before you faithfully^(D) and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard^(E) your prayer and seen your tears;^(F) I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend^(G) this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil,^(H) and he recovered.

⁸ Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord on the third day from now?”

⁹ Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign^(I) to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

¹⁰ “It is a simple^(J) matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

¹¹ Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back^(K) the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

Envoys From Babylon^(L)(M)

¹² At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. ¹³ Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”

¹⁵ The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.^(N) Nothing will be left, says the Lord. ¹⁸ And some of your descendants,^(O) your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”^(P)

¹⁹ “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”

²⁰ As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool^(Q) and the tunnel^(R) by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²¹ Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.

The Book of the Law Found^(A)

22 Josiah^(B) was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.^{(C) 2} He did what was right^(D) in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right^(E) or to the left.

³ In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan^(F) son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said: ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah^(G) the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected^(H) from the people. ⁵ Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair^(I) the temple of the Lord— ⁶ the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.^{(J) 7} But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings.”^(K)

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law^(L) in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.^(M)

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law,^(N) he tore his robes. ¹² He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam^(O) son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant:^{(P) 13} “Go and inquire^(Q) of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger^(R) that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

¹⁴ Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet^(S) Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

¹⁵ She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster^(T) on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book^(U) the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ Because they have forsaken^(V) me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made,^[a] my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’ ¹⁸ Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire^(W) of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ¹⁹ Because your heart was responsive and you humbled^(X) yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse^[b](Y) and be laid waste^(Z)—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace.^(AA) Your eyes^(AB) will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’”

So they took her answer back to the king.