The Daily Audio Bible
Isaiah Heals Hezekiah
20 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was dying. Then the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says. Give instructions to your house because you are going to die. You will not recover.”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your eyes.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Isaiah had not yet gone out from the middle courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him:
5 Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says. I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. I will certainly heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the House of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will protect this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.
7 Then Isaiah said, “Get a cake of figs.” So they got it and put it on the infected sore, and Hezekiah recovered.
8 Then Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the House of the Lord on the third day from now?”
9 Isaiah said, “This will be a sign for you from the Lord that the Lord will do the thing which he said. Shall the shadow extend forward over ten more steps, or shall it move backwards ten steps?”
10 Hezekiah said, “It’s easy for the shadow to get longer and cover ten more steps. Instead, have it go back ten steps.”
11 Then the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he caused the shadow, which had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, to go backwards ten steps.
Envoys From Babylon
12 At that time, Merodak Baladan[a] son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah because he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 Hezekiah heard the envoys and showed them all his palace treasuries, the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, the armory, and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing which Hezekiah did not show them in his palace or in his whole kingdom.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said, “What did these men say, and where did they come from?”
Hezekiah said, “From a distant land—they came from Babylon.”
15 Then Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?”
Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing in my treasuries which they did not see.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord. 17 Listen carefully! The days are coming when whatever is in your palace, everything which your fathers have stored up to this day, will be taken to Babylon. Not a thing will be left behind, says the Lord. 18 And some of your sons, your own descendants, whom you fathered, will be taken away and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” He said, “Won’t there be peace and security in my days?”
(2 Chronicles 32:32-33)
20 As for the rest of Hezekiah’s acts and all his mighty deeds, how he made the pool and the channel and brought water into the city, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 21 Hezekiah rested with his fathers. Then his son Manasseh became king in his place.
Manasseh Son of Hezekiah, King of Judah
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. 3 He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to the whole army of the heavens,[b] and he served them. 4 He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” 5 He built altars to all the army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord.
6 He made his son pass through the fire. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.
7 He put an image of Asherah, which he had made, into the house about which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. 8 I will not make the feet of Israel wander again from the land which I gave to their fathers, if they will just be careful to do whatever I commanded them and to observe the whole law which my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord exterminated before the people of Israel.
God’s Judgment on Manasseh
10 Then the Lord said through his prophets:
11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has engaged in these disgusting practices and has done more evil than all that which the Amorites who had gone before him had done, and he has caused Judah to sin with his filthy idols, 12 therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Pay attention! I am bringing such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all who hear of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Israel the plumb line that was stretched out over Samaria and the level used on the house of Ahab. I will wipe away Jerusalem just as someone wipes a bowl clean and turns it upside down. 14 I will hand over the remnant of my possession and give them into the hand of their enemies, so that they become plunder and spoils for all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day when their fathers came out of Egypt until today.
16 Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. This was in addition to the sin which he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.
17 As for the rest of Manasseh’s acts, everything he did and the sin he committed, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 18 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon became king in his place.
Amon Son of Manasseh, King of Judah
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king and he ruled for two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.
20 He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. 21 He walked in all the ways in which his father had walked, and he served the filthy idols which his father had served, and he worshipped them. 22 He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of the Lord.
23 Amon’s servants conspired against him, and they killed the king in his palace. 24 Then the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
25 As for the rest of Amon’s acts, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 26 They buried him in his own tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Josiah became king in his place.
Josiah Son of Amon, King of Judah
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in all the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
18 The next day, Paul went with us to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he reported in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they praised God.[a]
Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and all of them are zealous observers of the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, since you are telling them not to circumcise their children or follow our customs. 22 So what is to be done?[b] They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 So do what we are going to tell you.
“We have four men who have taken a vow. 24 Take them with you, go through the ceremony of purification with them, and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to the reports that have been made about you, but that you yourself are carefully following the law. 25 As for the Gentiles who believe, we have sent them a letter about the resolution[c] that they should avoid food sacrificed to idols, blood, the meat of strangled animals, and sexual immorality.”
26 The next day, Paul took the men and went through the ceremony of purification with them. He entered the temple to announce the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.
Paul Is Arrested
27 When the seven days were almost over, Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law, and against this place. And now he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together as a mob. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were looking for a way to kill him, a report went up to the commander of the cohort[d] that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the commander approached Paul, arrested him, and gave an order that he should be bound with two chains. He asked who Paul was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since the commander could not find out the truth because of the uproar, he ordered his men to take Paul away to the barracks. 35 When he came to the steps, Paul had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36 The large number of people that was following kept shouting, “Away with him!”
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Where?
Praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise him in the expanse that shows his might.
Why?
2 Praise him for his acts of power.
Praise him according to his abundant greatness.
How?
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn.
Praise him with the harp and the lyre.
4 Praise him with hand drums and dancing.
Praise him with the strings and the flute.
5 Praise him with the sounding cymbals.
Praise him with loud cymbals.
Who?
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
9 A person who fails to do his work
is a brother to a vandal.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
A righteous person runs inside and is protected.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.