Uncleanness in the Camp

⁹ “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

¹⁸ But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel ^(A)a thing for destruction and ^(B)bring trouble upon it.

The Rider on a White Horse

¹¹ Then I saw ^(A)heaven opened, and behold, ^(B)a white horse! The one sitting on it is called ^(C)Faithful and True, and ^(D)in righteousness he judges and makes war. ^12 (E)His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are ^(F)many diadems, and he has ^(G)a name written that no one knows but himself. ¹³ He is clothed in ^(H)a robe dipped in^[a] blood, and the name by which he is called is ^(I)The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies of heaven, ^(J)arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, ^(K)were following him on white horses.

⁴ Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem. And he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to ^(A)the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

²⁶ Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to ^(A)Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ^(A)what shall we do?” And he said to them, ^(B)“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ^(C)wages.”

²⁰ Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, ^(A)and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. ²¹ And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

32 ^(B)After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. ² And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, ³ he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴ A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and ^(C)the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” ⁵ He set to work resolutely and built up ^(D)all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it,^[a] and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the ^(E)Millo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶ And he set combat commanders over the people and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke ^(F)encouragingly to them, saying, ^7 (G)“Be strong and courageous. ^(H)Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, ^(I)for there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is ^(J)an arm of flesh, ^(K)but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Sennacherib Blasphemes

⁹ After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria, who was besieging Lachish with all his forces, sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Is not Hezekiah misleading you, that he may give you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? ^12 (L)Has not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, “Before one altar you shall worship, and on it you shall burn your sacrifices”? ¹³ Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴ Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? ¹⁵ Now, therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!’”

¹⁶ And his servants said still more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.” ¹⁸ And they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, in order that they might take the city. ¹⁹ And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.

The Lord Delivers Jerusalem

²⁰ Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. ²¹ And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with ^(M)shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. ²² So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side.

³ Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face ^(A)to seek the Lord, and ^(B)proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not ^(C)God in heaven? You ^(D)rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. ^(E)In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. ⁷ Did you not, our God, ^(F)drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of ^(G)Abraham your friend? ⁸ And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ^9 (H)‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment,^[a] or pestilence, or famine, ^(I)we will stand before this house and before you—^(J)for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ And now behold, the men of ^(K)Ammon and Moab and ^(L)Mount Seir, whom ^(M)you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, ^(N)and whom they avoided and did not destroy— ¹¹ behold, they reward us ^(O)by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will you not ^(P)execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but ^(Q)our eyes are on you.”

¹³ Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

¹¹ Israel has sinned; they have ^(A)transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the ^(B)devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. ^12 (C)Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They ^(D)turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become ^(E)devoted for destruction.^[a] I will be with you no more, unless you destroy ^(F)the devoted things from among you. ¹³ Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ^(G)‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”