Beginning
32 After these faithful acts, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered into Judah and besieged the strong cities and thought to win them for himself.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to fight against Jerusalem,
3 he took counsel with his princes and his nobles to stop the water of the fountains outside the city. And they helped him.
4 So, many of the people assembled themselves and stopped all the fountains and the river that ran through the midst of the country, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?”
5 And he took courage and rebuilt the entire broken wall and erected towers and another outside wall and repaired Millo in the City of David and made many weapons and shields.
6 And he set captains of war over the people and assembled them to him in the broad place of the gate of the city and spoke encouragement to them, saying,
7 “Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or be afraid of the king of Assyria, or of all the multitude that is with him! For there are more with us than are with him!
8 “With him is an arm of flesh! But with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles!” Then the people were sustained by the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
9 After this, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent his servants to Jerusalem (while he and all his dominion with him were besieging Lachish) to Hezekiah, king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,
10 “Thus says Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, ‘In what do you trust, that you would remain in Jerusalem during a siege?
11 ‘Does not Hezekiah entice you to give yourselves over to death by famine and by thirst, saying, “The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?”
12 ‘Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one Altar and burn incense upon it?”
13 ‘Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the people of other countries? Were the gods of the nations of other lands able to deliver their land out of my hand?
14 ‘Who is He — among all the gods of those nations that my fathers have destroyed that could not deliver their people out of my hand — that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?
15 ‘Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or seduce you in this way or believe him. For none of all the gods of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less shall your gods deliver you out of my hand?’”
16 And his servants spoke even more against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah.
17 He wrote also letters blaspheming the LORD God of Israel and speaking against Him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of other countries could not deliver their people out of my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver His people out of my hand.”
18 Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to scare them and to astonish them, so that they might take the city.
19 Thus they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, the works of man’s hands.
20 But Hezekiah the king and the Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed against this and cried to Heaven.
21 And the LORD sent an Angel which destroyed all the valiant men and the princes and captains of the army of the king of Assyria. So, he returned with shame to his own land. And when he had come into the house of his god, those of his own offspring killed him 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 others and guided them on every side.
23 And many brought offerings to the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations thereafter.
24 In those days, Hezekiah was sick to the death and prayed to the LORD, Who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
25 But Hezekiah did not repay according to the reward bestowed upon him; for his heart was lifted up. And wrath came upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 Nevertheless, Hezekiah humbled himself (after his heart had been lifted up), he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
27 Hezekiah also had abundant riches and honor. And he acquired treasures of silver, and of gold, and of precious stones, and of sweet odors, and of shields, and of all pleasant vessels,
28 and of store houses for the increase of wheat and wine and oil, and stalls for all beasts, and rows for the stables.
29 And he made cities for himself and had possession of sheep and oxen in abundance. For God had given him a large amount of substance.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper water springs of Gihon and led them straight underneath toward the City of David, westward. So, Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
31 But because of the ambassadors of the princes of Babel, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, to know all that was in his heart.
32 Concerning the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz, in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
33 So, Hezekiah slept with his fathers. And they buried him in the highest sepulcher of the sons of David. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place.
33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he went back and built the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down. And he set up altars for Baal and made groves and worshipped all the host of the heaven and served them.
4 Also, he built altars in the House of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem shall My Name be forever.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the House of the LORD.
6 And he made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom. He gave himself to witchcraft and to charming and to sorcery. And he used mediums and soothsayers. He did very much evil in the sight of the LORD to anger Him.
7 He also put the carved image which he had made in the House of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon, his son, “In this House and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever.
8 “I will no longer remove the foot of Israel out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers, so that they consider and do all that I have Commanded them, according to the Law and Statutes and Judgments by the hand of Moses.”
9 So, Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem err, to do worse than the heathen whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people; but they would not pay attention.
11 Therefore, the LORD brought the captains of the army of the king of Assyria upon them, who took Manasseh in fetters and bound him in chains and carried him to Babel.
12 And when he was in tribulation, he prayed to the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 and prayed to him. And God was moved by him, and heard his prayer, and brought him back to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
14 Now after this, he built a wall outside the City of David, on the western side of Gihon, in the valley, at the entry of the Fish Gate. And it surrounded Ophel and was raised very high. And he put captains of war in all the strong cities of Judah.
15 And he took away the strange gods and the image out of the House of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the House of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 Also, he prepared the Altar of the LORD, and sacrificed Peace Offerings on it, and those of thanks, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
17 Nonetheless, the people still sacrificed in the high places, but to the LORD their God.
18 Concerning the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the Seers who spoke to him in the Name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are in the Book of the Kings of Israel.
19 And his prayer and how God was moved by him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places and set groves and images (before he was humbled), behold, they are written in the Book of the Seers.
20 So, Manasseh slept with his fathers. And they buried him in his own house. And Amon, his son, reigned in his place.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign and reigned for two years in Jerusalem.
22 But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father. For Amon sacrificed to all the images which Manasseh his father had made and served them.
23 And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself. But this Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house.
25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his place.
34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.
2 And he did uprightly in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and bowed neither to the right nor to the left.
3 And in the eighth year of his reign (when he was still a child) he began to seek after the God of David, his father. And in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and molten images.
4 And they broke down the altars of Baal in his sight. And he had the images that were high upon them cut down. He also broke the groves and the carved images and the molten images and stamped them to powder and scattered it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5 Also, he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem
6 and the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, up to Naphtali, with their axes, all around.
7 And when he had destroyed the altars and the groves and had broken and stamped the images into powder and had cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 Then in the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz the Recorder, to repair the House of the LORD his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah, the High Priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the House of God, which the Levites who kept the door had gathered at the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and of all the rest of Israel and of all Judah and Benjamin and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hands of those who would do the work and had the oversight in the House of the LORD. And they gave it to the workmen who labored in the House of the LORD to repair and restore the House.
11 They even gave it to the workmen and to the builders to buy hewn stone and timber for couplings and for beams of the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully. And their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah (Levites, of the children of Merari) and Zechariah and Meshullam (of the children of the Kohathites) to set it forward. And other Levites, all of whom were skilled with instruments of music,
13 were over the bearers of burdens, and those who set forward all the workmen in every work. And of the Levites were scribes and officers and gatekeepers.
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the House of the LORD, Hilkiah the Priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
15 Therefore, Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan, the chancellor, “I have found the Book of the Law in the House of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the Book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the Book to the king and brought the king word back, saying, “All that is committed to the hand of your servants they are doing.
17 “For they have gathered the money that was found in the House of the LORD and have delivered it into the hands of the overseers and to the hands of the workmen.”
18 Also, Shaphan the chancellor declared to the king, saying, “Hilkiah the Priest has given me a Book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
19 And when the king heard the Words of the Law, he tore his clothes.
20 And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan the chancellor, and Asaiah, the king’s servant, saying,
21 “Go! Inquire of the LORD for me and for the rest in Israel and Judah concerning the Words of this Book that is found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has fallen upon us because our fathers have not kept the Word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this Book.”
22 Then Hilkiah, and those whom the king had appointed, went to Huldah the Prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (she dwelt in Jerusalem within the college) and they spoke of this with her.
23 And she answered them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,
24 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring misery upon this place, and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the Book which they have read before the king of Judah.
25 ‘Because they have forsaken Me and burnt incense to other gods, to anger Me with all the works of their hands, therefore shall My wrath fall upon this place and shall not be quenched.’”’
26 “But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall you say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel regarding the Words which you have heard:
27 “Because your heart melted, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His Words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and humbled yourself before Me, and tore your clothes, and wept before Me, I have also heard it,” says the LORD.’
28 “Behold, I will gather you to your fathers. And you shall be put in your grave in peace. And your eyes shall not see all the misery which I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same.”’” Thus, they brought back Word to the king.
29 Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the king went up into the House of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites, and all the people from the greatest to the smallest. And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant that were found in the House of the LORD.
31 And the king stood by his pillar and made a Covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His Commandments, and His Testimonies, and His Statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, so that he would accomplish the Words of the Covenant written in the same Book.
32 And he made all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand firm in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the Covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
33 So, Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that belonged to the children of Israel, and compelled all who were found in Israel to serve the LORD their God. So in all his days, they did not turn back from the LORD God of their fathers.
© 2019, 2024 by Five Talents Audio. All rights reserved.