Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20 ^(A)In those days ^(B)Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(C)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Now, O Lord, ^(D)please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and ^(E)with a whole heart, ^(F)and have done what is good in your sight.” ^(G)And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah ^(H)the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(I)I have heard your prayer; ^(J)I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, ⁶ and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, ^(K)and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” ⁷ And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “This shall be ^(L)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow ^(M)to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, ^(N)and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

^12 (O)At that time ^(P)Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(Q)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them ^(R)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ Behold, the days are coming, when ^(S)all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ^18 (T)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, ^(U)and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(V)“The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

^20 (W)The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made ^(X)the pool and the conduit ^(Y)and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^21 (Z)And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

By Grace Through Faith

2 ^(A)And you were ^(B)dead in the trespasses and sins ^2 (C)in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in ^(E)the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in ^(F)the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and ^(G)were by nature ^(H)children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^{[b] 4} But^[c] God, being ^(I)rich in mercy, ^(J)because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even ^(K)when we were dead in our trespasses, ^(L)made us alive together with Christ—^(M)by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and ^(N)seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable ^(O)riches of his grace in ^(P)kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For ^(Q)by grace you have been saved ^(R)through faith. And this is ^(S)not your own doing; ^(T)it is the gift of God, ^9 (U)not a result of works, ^(V)so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For ^(W)we are his workmanship, ^(X)created in Christ Jesus ^(Y)for good works, ^(Z)which God prepared beforehand, ^(AA)that we should walk in them.

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

33 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to ^(B)the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(C)that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made ^(D)Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(E)“In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in ^(F)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (G)And he burned his sons as an offering ^(H)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and ^(I)used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with ^(J)mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And ^(K)the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, ^(L)I will put my name forever, ⁸ and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land ^(M)that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Repentance

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. ^11 (N)Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and ^(O)bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. ¹² And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God ^(P)and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ He prayed to him, and ^(Q)God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. ^(R)Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of ^(S)Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into ^(T)the Fish Gate, and carried it around ^(U)Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. ¹⁵ And ^(V)he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. ¹⁶ He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ^17 (W)Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and ^(X)his prayer to his God, and the words of ^(Y)the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the ^(Z)Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁹ And his prayer, and how ^(AA)God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites ^(AB)on which he built high places and set up the ^(AC)Asherim and the images, before ^(AD)he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.^{[a] 20} So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon's Reign and Death

^21 (AE)Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images ^(AF)that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³ And he did not humble himself before the Lord, ^(AG)as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more. ²⁴ And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house. ²⁵ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(A)whoever hears my word and ^(B)believes him who sent me has eternal life. He ^(C)does not come into judgment, but ^(D)has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(E)an hour is coming, and is now here, when ^(F)the dead will hear ^(G)the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear ^(H)will live. ^26 (I)For as the Father has life in himself, ^(J)so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he ^(K)has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for ^(L)an hour is coming when ^(M)all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, ^(N)those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Witnesses to Jesus

^30 (O)“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and ^(P)my judgment is just, because ^(Q)I seek not my own will ^(R)but the will of him who sent me. ^31 (S)If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. ³² There is ^(T)another who bears witness about me, and ^(U)I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. ^33 (V)You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Not that ^(W)the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and ^(X)shining lamp, and ^(Y)you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶ But ^(Z)the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For ^(AA)the works that the Father has given me ^(AB)to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, ^(AC)bear witness about me that ^(AD)the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me ^(AE)has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, ^(AF)his form you have never seen, ³⁸ and ^(AG)you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ^39 (AH)You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and ^(AI)it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet ^(AJ)you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ^41 (AK)I do not receive glory from people. ⁴² But ^(AL)I know that you do not have ^(AM)the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come ^(AN)in my Father's name, and ^(AO)you do not receive me. ^(AP)If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and ^(AQ)do not seek the glory that comes from ^(AR)the only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, ^(AS)on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for ^(AT)he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But ^(AU)if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”