Beginning

Chapter 32

Invasion of Sennacherib. ¹ After Hezekiah had proved his fidelity by his deeds and his acts of faithfulness, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah and laid siege to the fortified towns, intending to take them by storm.

² When Hezekiah realized that Sennacherib was determined to attack Jerusalem, ³ he suggested to his officers and warriors that they block up the springs of water that were outside the city, and they supported his plan. ⁴ Then a large number of people were summoned to block up all the springs, as well as the stream that flowed through that land, saying: “Why should the kings of Assyria come here and find an abundance of water?”

⁵ Hezekiah next concentrated on strengthening his defenses. He repaired every breach in the city wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it. Then he built another wall outside that first wall. He also strengthened the Millo of the City of David and gathered large numbers of weapons and shields.

⁶ Next Hezekiah appointed military commanders over the people, and after gathering them together in his presence in the square at the gate of the city, he spoke these words of encouragement: ⁷ “Be strong and brave. Do not have any fear or be discouraged when confronted with the king of Assyria and the vast horde that serves him. Remember that there is one with us who is greater than anyone who is with him. ⁸ He has only human strength, but we have the Lord, our God, with us to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were greatly encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

Sennacherib’s Threat. ⁹ After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria was besieging Lachish with all his forces, he sent his representatives to Jerusalem to deliver this message to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the Judeans who were in Jerusalem: ¹⁰ “King Sennacherib of Assyria has this to say: What gives you the confidence to remain in Jerusalem while it is under siege? ¹¹ Hezekiah is misleading you, condemning you to die of famine and thirst, when he says: ‘The Lord, our God, will save us from the clutches of the king of Assyria.’ ¹² Was it not the same Hezekiah who removed the Lord’s shrines and altars and issued this command to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You shall worship before only one altar, and on that altar alone you shall offer sacrifices’? ¹³ Are you not aware what I and my ancestors have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of those nations able to save their lands from my power? ¹⁴ Of all the gods of these nations which my ancestors totally destroyed, was there even one who was able to save his people from my hand? How then will your God be able to deliver you from my power?

¹⁵ “Do not permit Hezekiah to deceive you or mislead you in this way, and do not believe him. How can you place your trust in him, since no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand or from the hand of my ancestors? How much less will your God be able to save you from my clutches!”

¹⁶ Sennacherib’s officials offered further negative comments against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ In addition, Sennacherib wrote letters filled with contemptuous remarks about the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: “Just as the gods of other nations could not rescue their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah will not be able to save his people from my power.”

¹⁸ Then the forces of Sennacherib shouted loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the wall, trying to strike them with terror and fear, and thus hoping to be able to conquer the city. ¹⁹ They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as if he were in no way superior to any of the gods of the other peoples of the earth, simply the work of human hands.

²⁰ The Defeat of Sennacherib. Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven. ²¹ Therefore, the Lord sent an angel who destroyed every valiant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. As a result, Sennacherib returned in disgrace to his own land. When he entered the temple of his god, some of his sons slew him with the sword.

²² Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hands of Sennacherib and from the hands of all their enemies, affording them rest on every side. ²³ Many people brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem and costly gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah. From that time onward he was held in high esteem by all nations.

²⁴ Hezekiah’s Other Deeds. In those days Hezekiah fell seriously ill. Then he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered him by granting him a sign. ²⁵ However, Hezekiah was a proud man, and he failed to respond with gratitude for the kindness that the Lord had shown him. As a result, the wrath of the Lord fell upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ But then Hezekiah humbled himself because of the pride of heart that he had exhibited, as did also the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not fall upon them during Hezekiah’s lifetime.

²⁷ Hezekiah possessed great wealth and honor. He built for himself treasuries for his silver and gold, for his precious stones, for spices and shields and for all kinds of other costly things, ²⁸ storehouses for the harvests of grain, new wine and oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle and flocks of sheep. ²⁹ He also built cities for himself, and he acquired flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great possessions.

³⁰ This same Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed their course down to the west side of the City of David. In every respect he prospered in all his works, ³¹ although when envoys were sent by the king of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign^[a] that had occurred in the land, God left him to himself in order to test him and to discover what was in his heart.

³² The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his pious works are recorded in the vision of the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³ Hezekiah slept with his ancestors, and he was buried at the ascent to the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

Chapter 33

Manasseh’s Rule. ¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord by following the abominable practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out in favor of the Israelites.

³ Manasseh rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles, and prostrated himself before all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the temple of the Lord about which the Lord had said: “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”

⁵ Manasseh also built altars for all the host of heaven^[b] in the two courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶ Further, he immolated his sons by fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, practiced soothsaying, divination, and sorcery, and had dealings with mediums and wizards. Thus he perpetrated great evil in the sight of the Lord and aroused his anger.

⁷ Manasseh took the carved image of the idol that he had made and placed it in the house of God, concerning which God had said to David and to Solomon his son: “In this house, and in Jerusalem, the city which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish my name forever. ⁸ I will never again allow the feet of Israel to be removed from the land which I assigned to your ancestors, provided that they are careful to observe all that I commanded them in regard to the entire law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”

⁹ However, Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray so that they did far greater evil than the nations which the Lord had destroyed in favor of the Israelites. ¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they refused to listen.

¹¹ Manasseh’s Conversion. Therefore, the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They took Manasseh captive with hooks, shackled him with chains, and brought him to Babylon.^{[c] 12} In his distress, he entreated the mercy of the Lord, his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. ¹³ After praying to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty. Having accepted his supplication, he restored him to his kingdom in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh fully understood that the Lord is indeed God.

¹⁴ Afterward, Manasseh built an outer wall for the City of David, to the west of Gihon in the valley, and he extended it up to the entrance by the Fish Gate and encircling Ophel, raising it to a great height. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified towns of Judah. ¹⁵ Furthermore, he removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he cast them outside the city.

¹⁶ Manasseh also restored the altar of the Lord, and upon that altar he sacrificed peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings, while at the same time commanding Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁷ Though the people continued to sacrifice at the high places, they now did so only to the Lord, their God.

¹⁸ The rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the prophecies of the seers^[d] who spoke to him, in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, can be found in the annals of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, all his sins and his infidelity, and the sites where he built high places and set up sacred poles and idols before he humbled himself, can be found recorded in the chronicles of the seers.^{[e] 20} Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the garden of his palace. His son Amon succeeded him.

²¹ Amon. Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for two years. ²² He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made, and he worshiped them.

²³ Amon did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. On the contrary, Amon only increased his guilt. ²⁴ His servants conspired against him, and they assassinated him in the palace. ²⁵ However, the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and then they proclaimed his son Josiah as his successor.

Chapter 34

The Reforms of Josiah. ¹ Josiah was eight years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and he followed in the ways of his ancestor David, not deviating either to the right or to the left.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and the cast images.^{[f] 4} Then, in his presence and following his instructions, he oversaw the destruction of the altars of the Baals, and the incense stands erected above them were torn down. The sacred poles and the carved and molten images were shattered and beaten into dust, which was then scattered over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ Finally, the bones of the priests he burned upon their altars. Thus he purified Judah and Jerusalem.

⁶ In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and in the ruined villages as far as Naphtali, ⁷ Josiah destroyed the altars, crushed the sacred poles and the images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

The Temple Restored. ⁸ In the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purified the land as well as the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair and restore the house of the Lord, his God. ⁹ They came to the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, as well as from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They delivered the money to the master workmen in the house of the Lord, and these in turn used it to pay the workmen in the Lord’s house who were restoring and repairing the temple. ¹¹ They also gave money to the carpenters and the builders to purchase quarried stone, as well as timber for the rafters and beams of the buildings which the kings of Judah had permitted to fall into disrepair.

¹² The men worked conscientiously at their tasks. Their overseers who directed the work were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the line of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, members of the Kohathites. The Levites, all of them skilled in the art of playing musical instruments, ¹³ were in charge of the men who carried the burdens, and they directed all the workers in every kind of labor, while other Levites were secretaries, officials, and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ Discovery of the Law. When they brought out the money that had been deposited in the house of the Lord, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord which had been given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah said to the secretary, Shaphan: “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord,” and then he gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan brought the book to the king and reported to him: “Your servants are doing everything that has been entrusted to them. ¹⁷ They have melted down the silver that had been deposited in the house of the Lord and have handed it over to the supervisors and the workers.” ¹⁸ Shaphan the secretary also informed the king: “Hilkiah the priest has handed over a book to me.” Then Shaphan proceeded to read extracts from the book in the presence of the king.

¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments. ²⁰ Then he issued this command to Hilkiah, Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, Abdon, the son of Micah, the secretary, Shaphan, and the king’s servant, Asaiah: ²¹ “Go forth and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been discovered. For the intense wrath of the Lord that has been poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not observe the Lord’s command and do all that is written in this book.”

²² Therefore, Hilkiah and those others whom the king had designated went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum, son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the guardian of the wardrobe, and consulted her at her home in the Second Quarter of Jerusalem, as they had been instructed. After they spoke to her, ²³ she replied: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the one who sent you to me: ²⁴ The Lord says: I am going to bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants—all the curses written in the book that was read in the presence of the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have abandoned me and have burned incense to other gods, thereby provoking my anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.’

²⁶ “As for the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, give this response: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In regard to the words that you have heard, ²⁷ since your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words spoken against this place and its inhabitants and tore your garments and wept before me, I in turn have listened, declares the Lord. ²⁸ I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be taken to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not live to behold all the disaster that I will inflict upon this place and its inhabitants.’ ” Then the representatives of the king brought back this answer to him.

²⁹ Renewal of the Covenant.^[g] Thereupon, after the king convened all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, ³⁰ he went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small. In their hearing he read the entire contents of the book of the covenant that was discovered in the house of the Lord.

³¹ Then the king stood by his pillar and entered into a covenant before the Lord to obey him and keep his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and soul, and thus carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³² After that, he had all those in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge their conformity to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

³³ Josiah removed all the abominable idols from the entire territory that belonged to the people of Israel, and he made it a requirement that all those who lived in Israel must worship their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their ancestors.