Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20 ^(A)In those days Hezekiah became ^[a]mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘^(B)Set your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’” ² Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Please, Lord, just ^(C)remember ^(D)how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight!” And ^(E)Hezekiah wept ^[b]profusely. ⁴ And even before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return and say to ^(F)Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says: “^(G)I have heard your prayer, ^(H)I have seen your tears; behold, I am going to 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 ^[c]life, and I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^(I)I will protect this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”’” ⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took it and placed it on the inflamed spot, and he recovered.

⁸ Now Hezekiah said to 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?” ⁹ Isaiah said, “^(J)This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform the word that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ So Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but have the shadow turn backward ten steps.” ¹¹ Then Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and ^(K)He brought the shadow on the ^[d]stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the ^[e]stairway of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

^12 (L)At that time ^[f]Berodach-baladan, a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah listened to ^[g]them, and showed them ^(M)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the balsam oil, the ^[h]scented oil, the house of his armor, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor 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 have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah ^[i]answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days are coming when ^(N)everything that is in your house, and what your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘And some ^(O)of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away; and they will become ^(P)officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is ^(Q)good.” For he ^[j]thought, “Is it not good, if there will be peace and ^[k]security in my days?”

^20 (R)Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he ^(S)constructed the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^21 (T)So Hezekiah ^[l]lay down with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

Made Alive in Christ

2 And ^[a]you ^[b]were ^(A)dead ^[c]in your offenses and sins, ² in which you ^(B)previously walked according to the ^[d]course of ^(C)this world, according to ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in ^(E)the ^[e]sons of disobedience. ³ Among them ^[f]we too all ^(F)previously lived in ^(G)the lusts of our flesh, ^[g]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the ^[h]mind, and were ^(H)by nature ^(I)children of wrath, ^(J)just as the rest. ⁴ But God, being ^(K)rich in mercy, because of ^(L)His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were ^(M)dead ^[i]in our wrongdoings, made us alive together ^[j]with Christ (^(N)by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and ^(O)raised us up with Him, and ^(P)seated us with Him in ^(Q)the heavenly places in ^(R)Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the ^[k]boundless ^(S)riches of His grace in ^(T)kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For ^(U)by grace you have been saved ^(V)through faith; and ^[l]this is not of yourselves, it is ^(W)the gift of God; ^9 (X)not a result of works, so that ^(Y)no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, ^(Z)created in ^(AA)Christ Jesus for ^(AB)good works, which God ^(AC)prepared beforehand so that we would ^(AD)walk in them.

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah in Judah

33 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ^2 (B)He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³ For ^(C)he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down; ^(D)he also set up altars for the Baals and made ^[a]Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly ^[b]lights and served them. ^4 (E)He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be ^(F)in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ He built altars for all the heavenly ^[c]lights in ^(G)the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. ^6 (H)He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and ^(I)dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. ⁷ Then he put ^(J)the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “^(K)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; ⁸ and I will not remove the foot of Israel again from the land ^(L)which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will take care to do everything that I have commanded them according to all the Law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.” ⁹ So Manasseh encouraged Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Manasseh’s Idolatry Rebuked

¹⁰ So the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but ^(M)they paid no attention. ^11 (N)Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, ^(O)bound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon. ¹² When ^(P)he was in distress, he appeased the Lord his God and ^(Q)humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ When he prayed to Him, ^(R)He was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh ^(S)knew that the Lord alone is God.

¹⁴ Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of ^(T)Gihon, in the valley, up to the entrance of the ^(U)Fish Gate; and he encircled the ^(V)Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah. ¹⁵ He also ^(W)removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. ¹⁶ He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed ^(X)peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁷ However, ^(Y)the people still sacrificed on the high places, although only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and ^(Z)his prayer to his God, and the words of ^(AA)the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of ^(AB)Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer also and ^(AC)how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and ^(AD)the sites on which he built high places and erected the ^[d]Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of ^[e]Hozai. ²⁰ So Manasseh ^[f]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Becomes King in Judah

^21 (AE)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. ²² He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh ^(AF)had done, and Amon sacrificed to all ^(AG)the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. ²³ Furthermore, he did not humble himself before the Lord ^(AH)as his father Manasseh had ^[g]done, but Amon multiplied his guilt. ²⁴ Finally, ^(AI)his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. ²⁵ But the people of the land ^[h]killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁴ “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and ^(A)believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and ^(B)does not come into judgment, but has ^(C)passed out of death into life.

Two Resurrections

²⁵ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^[a](D)a time is coming and ^[b]even now has arrived, when ^(E)the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who ^(F)hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He ^(G)gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; ²⁷ and He gave Him authority to ^(H)execute judgment, because He is ^[c]the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be amazed at this; for ^[d](I)a time is coming when ^(J)all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹ and will come out: ^(K)those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

³⁰ “^(L)I can do nothing ^[e]on My own. As I hear, I judge; and ^(M)My judgment is ^[f]righteous, because I do not seek My own will but ^(N)the will of Him who sent Me.

³¹ “^(O)If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not ^[g]true. ³² There is ^(P)another who testifies about Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

Testimony of John the Baptist

³³ You have sent messengers to John, and he ^(Q)has testified to the truth. ³⁴ But ^(R)the testimony I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was ^(S)the lamp that was burning and shining, and you ^(T)were willing to rejoice for ^[h]a while in his light.

Testimony of Works

³⁶ But the testimony I have is greater than the testimony of John; for ^(U)the works which the Father has given Me ^(V)to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father ^(W)has sent Me.

Testimony of the Father

³⁷ And the Father who sent Me, ^(X)He has testified about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. ³⁸ Also you do not have ^(Y)His word remaining in you, because you do not believe Him whom He ^(Z)sent.

Testimony of the Scripture

^39 [i](AA)You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is ^(AB)those very Scriptures that testify about Me; ⁴⁰ and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. ^41 (AC)I do not receive glory from people; ⁴² but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not ^[j]receive Me; ^(AD)if another comes in his own name, you will ^[k]receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you ^[l](AE)accept ^[m]glory from one another and you do not seek ^(AF)the ^[n]glory that is from ^(AG)the one and only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is ^(AH)Moses, in whom you have put your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for ^(AI)he wrote about Me. ⁴⁷ But ^(AJ)if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”