Beginning
Hezekiah's illness and his mistake
20 At that time, Hezekiah became very ill. He nearly died. Then Amoz's son, Isaiah the prophet, went to Hezekiah. He said to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You will soon die. You will not get better. So you must tell your family what to do after your death.” ’ 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and he prayed to the Lord. 3 He said, ‘Lord, please remember that I have served you well. I have always obeyed you. You could trust me to do the things that you told me to do.’ Hezekiah wept very much.
4 While Isaiah was still in the middle yard of the palace, the Lord gave him this message: 5 ‘Go back! Say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, “This is what the Lord says, the God that your ancestor David worshipped. I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. I will make you well again. On the third day from now you will go to the Lord's temple. 6 I will let you live for 15 more years. I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will keep Jerusalem safe, because I do what is right and I made a promise to my servant David.” ’
7 Then Isaiah said, ‘Take some figs to make a medicine.’ So the king's servants did what Isaiah had said. They put the medicine on Hezekiah's boil. He became well again.
8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, ‘What will show me that the Lord will make me well again? How will I know that I will go up to the Lord's temple on the third day from now?’ 9 Isaiah answered, ‘The Lord will do a miracle to show you that he will do what he has promised. Do you want the shadow on these stairs to move down ten steps? Or do you want the shadow to go back up ten steps?’ 10 Hezekiah said, ‘It is easy to cause the shadow to move down ten steps. So I want it to go back up ten steps.’[a] 11 Then Isaiah the prophet asked the Lord to do this. The Lord caused the shadow to go back up ten steps on the stairs that King Ahaz had made.
12 At that time, Baladan's son, Merodach-Baladan, was the king of Babylon. Merodach-Baladan sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah. He had heard the news that Hezekiah had been ill. 13 Hezekiah was happy to meet the officers who came from the king of Babylon. Hezekiah showed them the places where he stored his valuable things. He showed them his silver and gold things, his spices and very valuable olive oil. He also showed them all his weapons. Hezekiah showed them all his valuable things. There was nothing in his palace or in his whole kingdom that he did not show to the king of Babylon's officers.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah. Isaiah asked the king, ‘What did those men say? Where did they come from?’ Hezekiah replied, ‘They came from Babylon, far away.’ 15 Isaiah asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’ Hezekiah said, ‘They saw everything that is in my palace. I showed all my valuable things to them.’
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord: 17 “Understand this! One day, soldiers from Babylon will carry away all your valuable things. Everything that you and your ancestors have stored here until now will go to Babylon. They will leave nothing here. 18 Some of your own descendants will also go to Babylon. Soldiers from Babylon will take them away from here. Your descendants will become eunuchs in the king of Babylon's palace.” That is what the Lord says. ’
19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The Lord's message that you have spoken to me is good.’ But he was thinking, ‘While I am still alive, people will live safely without any trouble.’
20 The other things that happened while Hezekiah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Hezekiah did. It includes a report about the pool and the stream that he built to bring water into the city of Jerusalem. 21 So Hezekiah died and they buried him beside his ancestors. His son Manasseh became king after him.
Manasseh becomes the king of Judah
21 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for 55 years. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 2 Manasseh did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same terrible sins that the other nations in Canaan had done. Those were the nations that the Lord had chased out so that the Israelites could live there. 3 Manasseh built again the altars on the hills that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for people to worship Baal. He also made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done. He bent down low to worship all the stars in the sky. 4 He built altars in the Lord's temple.[b] The Lord had said about his temple, ‘That is my home in Jerusalem where people will worship me.’
5 Manasseh built altars to give honour to the stars, in both yards of the Lord's temple. 6 He burnt his own son with fire as a sacrifice. He used magic and false gods to find out what would happen in the future. He took advice from magicians and people who talked to the spirits of dead people. He did many things that the Lord said were very evil. This made the Lord very angry.
7 Manasseh used wood to make an image of the false god, Asherah. He put this idol in the Lord's temple. The Lord had said this about his temple to King David and to his son King Solomon: ‘My people will worship me in my temple here in Jerusalem. That is the place that I have chosen to be my home for ever. I have chosen it from among all the tribes of Israel. 8 I will never cause the Israelite people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors. But they must be careful to obey all my commands and all my Law that my servant Moses gave to them.’
9 But the people did not obey the Lord. Manasseh caused them to turn away from God. The Israelites did more evil things than the people who lived in Canaan before them. The Lord had destroyed those nations so that the Israelites could live there.
10 So the Lord used his servants, the prophets, to say this: 11 ‘Manasseh, the king of Judah, has done terrible sins. He has done more evil things than the Amorites did, who lived in Canaan before him. He has caused the people of Judah to do wrong things as they worship his idols. 12 So the Lord, Israel's God, says this: “I will cause great trouble to happen in Jerusalem and in all the kingdom of Judah. Everyone who hears the news about it will be very surprised. 13 I will judge Jerusalem and I will punish the people, as I punished Samaria and the family of King Ahab.[c] I will remove the people from Jerusalem, like someone who washes the dirt from both sides of a plate.
14 I will no longer help those of my own people who still remain. I will put them under the power of their enemies. All their enemies will rob them. They will take all their valuable things for themselves. 15 My people have done things that I say are evil. They have made me very angry. They have continued to do that since their ancestors came out from Egypt, until today.” ’
16 Also, Manasseh murdered many people who had not done anything wrong. Their blood was in all the streets of Jerusalem! He caused the people in Judah to do bad things too. He caused them to do things that the Lord said were evil.
17 The other things that happened while Manasseh was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Manasseh did, including all his terrible sins. 18 Manasseh died and they buried him in the garden of his palace. It is called Uzza's garden. His son Amon became king after him.
Amon becomes the king of Judah
19 Amon was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth. She was the daughter of Haruz, who came from Jotbah. 20 Amon did things that the Lord said were evil, as his father Manasseh had done. 21 He lived in the same bad way as his father did. He bent down low to worship the useless idols that his father had worshipped. 22 He turned away from the Lord, the God that his ancestors worshipped. He did not obey the Lord's teaching.
23 Amon's officers decided to kill him. They killed him in his palace. 24 Then the people of Judah punished all Amon's murderers with death. They chose his son Josiah to be king after him.
25 The other things that Amon did are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’ 26 People buried him in his grave in Uzza's garden. His son Josiah became king after him.
Josiah becomes the king of Judah
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for 31 years. His mother's name was Jedidah. She was the daughter of Adaiah, who came from Bozkath. 2 Josiah did things that the Lord said were right. He lived in the good ways of his ancestor, King David. He did not turn away from the Lord's teaching in any way.
Hilkiah finds the Book of God's Law
3 When Josiah had been king for 18 years, he sent Shaphan to the Lord's temple. Shaphan was the son of Azaliah, and the grandson of Meshullam. He was the king's secretary. Josiah told Shaphan, 4 ‘Go to meet Hilkiah, the leader of the priests. Ask him to count the money that people have brought as gifts into the Lord's temple. Those are the offerings that the temple guards have received from people. 5 The priests must give the money to the men who have authority over the work on the Lord's temple. Those leaders must pay the men who are doing the repairs. 6 Those workers are the carpenters, the builders and the men who work with stones. The leaders of the work must also buy wood. And they must buy stones that are ready to use. They need those things to repair the temple. 7 The leaders of the work are honest men. So they do not need to give a report on how they use the money.’
8 Hilkiah, the leader of the priests, told Shaphan, the king's secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the Lord's temple.’ He gave the book to Shaphan and Shaphan read it. 9 Then Shaphan went to the king. He said to him, ‘Your officers have paid out all the money that was in the Lord's temple. They have given it to the men who are working on the temple repairs and to their leaders.’ 10 Then Shaphan told the king, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.’ Shaphan started to read the book while the king listened.
11 When the king heard the words from the Book of the Law, he was very upset. He tore his clothes. 12 He gave a command to Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan's son Ahikam, Micaiah's son Acbor, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's servant. 13 He told them, ‘Go to the temple. Ask the Lord about the message in this book that Hilkiah has found. I need to know what I should do, as well as all the people of Judah. The Lord has become very angry with us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this book. They have not done the things that it tells us we should do.’
14 So Hilkiah, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to Huldah. Huldah was a prophetess who lived in the north part of Jerusalem. She was the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah. Tikvah was the son of Harhas, who took care of the king's clothes. The king's men told Huldah why they had come to meet her. 15 She said to them, ‘The Lord, Israel's God, says, “Tell this to the man who sent you here to me: 16 This is what the Lord says. I will bring great trouble to this place and the people who live here. The message of the book that the king of Judah has read tells about what will happen. 17 I will send this trouble because they have turned away from me. They have offered sacrifices to other gods. I am very angry with them because of all the idols that they have made for themselves. My anger is like a fire that is burning and nobody can stop it!” 18 The king of Judah sent you here to ask for the Lord's answer. Say to the king, “The Lord, Israel's God, says this about the message that you have heard:
19 When you heard the message that I had spoken, you were very upset. You made yourself humble to respect me. You tore your clothes and you wept. You did that when you heard how I would punish this place and the people who live here. I said that I would destroy this place so that people would use its name as a curse. Because you became so upset, I have heard your prayer. 20 So I will let you die in peace and people will bury you beside your ancestors. You yourself will never see the great trouble that I will bring to this place.” That is what the Lord says.’
The men took Huldah's answer back to the king.
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