Judah’s King Jotham

32 In the second year of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham(A) son of Uzziah became king of Judah. 33 He was 25 years old when he became king(B) and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 34 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Uzziah had done.(C) 35 Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

Jotham built the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple.(D) 36 The rest(E) of the events of Jotham’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, they are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(F) 37 In those days the Lord began sending Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.(G) 38 Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his ancestor David.(H) His son Ahaz became king in his place.

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Judah’s King Jotham

27 Jotham was 25 years old(A) when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem.(B) His mother’s name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he didn’t enter the Lord’s sanctuary,(C) but the people still behaved corruptly.

Jotham built the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple, and he built extensively on the wall of Ophel.(D) He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.(E) He waged war against the king of the Ammonites. He overpowered the Ammonites, and that year they gave him 7,500 pounds[a] of silver, 50,000 bushels[b] of wheat, and 50,000 bushels[c] of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years. So Jotham strengthened himself because he did not waver in obeying[d] the Lord his God.(F)

As for the rest of the events(G) of Jotham’s reign, along with all his wars and his ways, note that they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. He was 25 years old when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Ahaz became king in his place.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 27:5 Lit 100 talents
  2. 2 Chronicles 27:5 Lit 10,000 cors
  3. 2 Chronicles 27:5 Lit 10,000 cors
  4. 2 Chronicles 27:6 Lit he established his ways before

The word of the Lord that came(A) to Micah(B) the Moreshite(C)—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham,(D) Ahaz,(E) and Hezekiah,(F) kings of Judah.

Coming Judgment on Israel

Listen, all you peoples;(G)
pay attention, earth[a] and everyone in it!(H)
The Lord God will be a witness against you,(I)
the Lord, from His holy temple.(J)
Look, the Lord is leaving His place(K)
and coming down to trample
the heights[b] of the earth.(L)
The mountains will melt beneath Him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax near a fire,(M)
like water cascading down a mountainside.
All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion
and the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Isn’t it Samaria?(N)
And what is the high place of Judah?(O)
Isn’t it Jerusalem?
Therefore, I will make Samaria
a heap of ruins(P) in the countryside,
a planting area(Q) for a vineyard.
I will roll her stones(R) into the valley
and expose her foundations.(S)
All her carved images will be smashed(T) to pieces;
all her wages(U) will be burned in the fire,
and I will destroy all her idols.
Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,(V)
they will be used again for a prostitute.

Micah’s Lament

Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.(W)
I will howl like the jackals(X)
and mourn like ostriches.[c]
For her wound is incurable(Y)
and has reached even Judah;(Z)
it has approached the gate of my people,(AA)
as far as Jerusalem.

10 Don’t announce it in Gath,(AB)
don’t weep at all.
Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.
11 Depart in shameful nakedness,(AC)
you residents of Shaphir;
the residents of Zaanan(AD) will not come out.
Beth-ezel is lamenting;
its support[d] is taken from you.
12 Though the residents of Maroth
anxiously wait for something good,(AE)
disaster has come from the Lord(AF)
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the horses to the chariot,
you residents of Lachish.(AG)
This was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion,
because Israel’s acts of rebellion(AH) can be traced to you.
14 Therefore, send farewell gifts(AI) to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib(AJ) are a deception(AK)
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror
against you who live in Mareshah.(AL)
The nobility[e] of Israel will come to Adullam.(AM)
16 Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair(AN)
in sorrow for your precious children;
make yourselves as bald as an eagle,
for they have been taken from you into exile.(AO)

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 1:2 Or land
  2. Micah 1:3 Or high places
  3. Micah 1:8 Or eagle owls; lit daughters of the desert
  4. Micah 1:11 Lit its standing place; Hb obscure
  5. Micah 1:15 Lit glory

Judah’s King Ahaz

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah,(A) Ahaz(B) son of Jotham became king of Judah. Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like his ancestor David(C) but walked in the way of the kings of Israel.(D) He even made his son pass through the fire,[a] imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(E) He sacrificed and burned incense(F) on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.(G)

Then(H) Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah came to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but were not able to conquer him.(I) At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judahites from Elath.(J) Then the Arameans came to Elath, and they live there until today.(K)

So Ahaz sent messengers(L) to Tiglath-pileser(M) king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. March up and save me from the power of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace and sent them to the king of Assyria as a gift.(N) So the king of Assyria listened to him(O) and marched up to Damascus and captured it.(P) He deported its people to Kir(Q) but put Rezin to death.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 16:3 Either a Canaanite cult practice or child sacrifice

Judah’s King Ahaz

28 Ahaz was 20 years old(A) when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight(B) like his ancestor David, for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel(C) and made cast images of the Baals.(D) He burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom(E) and burned his children in[a](F) the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(G) He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places,(H) on the hills, and under every green tree.

So the Lord his God handed Ahaz over(I) to the king of Aram. He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus.

Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force: Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day—all brave men—because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. An Ephraimite warrior named Zichri killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam governor of the palace, and Elkanah who was second to the king. Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their brothers—women, sons, and daughters.(J) They also took a great deal of plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.

A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Look, the Lord God of your ancestors handed them over to you because of His wrath against Judah,(K) but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached heaven.(L) 10 Now you plan to reduce the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, to slavery. Are you not also guilty before Yahweh your God? 11 Listen to me and return the captives you took from your brothers,(M) for the Lord’s burning anger is on you.”

12 So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood in opposition to those coming from the war. 13 They said to them, “You must not bring the captives here, for you plan to bring guilt on us from the Lord to add to our sins and our guilt. For we have much guilt, and burning anger is on Israel.”

14 The army left the captives and the plunder in the presence of the officers and the congregation. 15 Then the men who were designated by name(N) took charge of the captives and provided clothes for their naked ones from the plunder. They clothed them, gave them sandals, food and drink,(O) dressed their wounds, and provided donkeys for all the feeble. The Israelites brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms,(P) among their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 28:3 LXX, Syr, Tg read and passed his children through

The Message to Ahaz

This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:(A) Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem,(B) but he could not succeed. When it became known to the house of David(C) that Aram had occupied Ephraim,(D) the heart of Ahaz[a] and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub(E) to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,(F) by the road to the Fuller’s Field. Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly(G) because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, ‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’”

This is what the Lord God says:

It will not happen; it will not occur.(H)
The[b] head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin
(within 65 years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),
the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.

The Immanuel Prophecy

10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a sign(I) from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.”

12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”

13 Isaiah(J) said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?(K) 14 Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin will conceive,[d] have a son, and name him Immanuel.[e](L) 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,(M) he will be eating butter[f] and honey.(N) 16 For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah(O)—the king of Assyria(P) is coming.”

18 On that day(Q)
the Lord will whistle(R) to the fly
that is at the farthest streams of the Nile
and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 All of them will come and settle
in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,(S)
in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

20 On that day the Lord will use a razor(T) hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria(U)—to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.

21 On that day
a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
22 and from the abundant milk they give
he will eat butter,
for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.(V)

23 And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.(W)
24 A man will go there with bow and arrows
because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
25 You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 7:2 Lit Aram has rested upon Ephraim, his heart
  2. Isaiah 7:8 Lit For the
  3. Isaiah 7:14 In Hb, the word you is pl
  4. Isaiah 7:14 Or virgin is pregnant, will
  5. Isaiah 7:14 = God With Us
  6. Isaiah 7:15 Or sour milk

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