Beginning
The King of Assyria Threatens Jerusalem
32 After these events and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came into Judah and laid siege to the fortified cities. He intended to capture them for himself.
2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and was ready to wage war against Jerusalem, 3 he made plans with his officials and soldiers to block the water supply from the springs outside the city. They helped him 4 by gathering a large group of people, who stopped all the springs and the water channel that flowed through the middle of the land.[a] They said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?”
5 Hezekiah strengthened his position. He rebuilt the whole part of the wall that had been broken down. He made the towers taller. He made a second wall outside the first wall. He strengthened the Millo[b] of the City of David. He made many weapons and shields. 6 He set military officers over the people. He brought them together with him in the square at the city gate. He spoke to encourage them: 7 “Be strong. Be courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be terrified because of the presence of the king of Assyria and the horde that is with him, because the one with us is greater than all those who are with him. 8 With him is only an arm of flesh. With us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were encouraged by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
9 After this, while Sennacherib king of Assyria was attacking Lachish with his powerful forces, he sent his officials to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem.
10 Sennacherib’s officials proclaimed:
This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says. What are you relying on as you sit there under siege in Jerusalem? 11 Isn’t Hezekiah misleading you? He is handing you over to die by famine and by thirst, when he says, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria.”
12 Hasn’t this same Hezekiah taken away the Lord’s high places and altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem: “You are to worship in front of one altar, and you are to send up sacrifices only from it”?
13 Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the people of the other lands? Were the gods of those foreign nations ever able to deliver their land from 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? So, will your God be able to deliver you from my hand?
15 Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you like this. 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 father. How much less will your God! He will not deliver you from my hand.
16 These officials had even more to say against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17 The king of Assyria wrote letters to heap scorn on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to speak against him by saying, “Like the gods of those foreign nations, which have not delivered their people from my hands, the god of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.”
18 They shouted loudly in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, in order to frighten them and terrify them so that they could take the city. 19 They spoke about the God of Jerusalem in the same way that they spoke about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of human hands.
The Lord Saves Jerusalem
20 Hezekiah the king and Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, prayed about this, crying out to heaven.
21 So the Lord sent an angel, who wiped out all the powerful warriors, the commanders, and the officers in the camp of the king of Assyria, and he returned to his land in disgrace. There he went into the house of his god, and some of his offspring from his own body struck him down 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 everyone else. He gave them rest on all sides.
23 Many people kept bringing gifts for the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah. He was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after this.
The Lord Humbles Hezekiah
24 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was dying. He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered him and gave him a sign. 25 But Hezekiah did not respond to the benefit granted to him, because his heart was proud. So there was wrath against him and against Judah and Jerusalem.
26 But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah’s Wealth
27 Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor. He made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices and incense, shields, and all kinds of expensive items.
28 He made storehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as stalls for all kinds of cattle and pens for flocks of sheep and goats. 29 He built cities for himself and amassed flocks of sheep and very many cattle, for God had given him very much property and many possessions.
30 This Hezekiah was the one who closed the upper outlet of the Gihon Spring. He directed the water down to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.
31 When the envoys from the officials of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
Hezekiah’s Death
32 You can find the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his faithfulness written in the vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
33 Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper part of[c] the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the residents of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Then his son Manasseh became king in his place.
Manasseh King of Judah
33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for fifty-five years.
2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. 3 He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down. He erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He worshipped the whole army of the heavens[d] and served them. 4 He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem my Name will be forever.” 5 He built altars for the whole army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord.
6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and consulted mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil deeds he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.
7 He placed the image of the carved idol that he had made in the House of God, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. 8 I will not make the feet of Israel wander again from the land which I assigned to their fathers, but only if they are conscientious to carry out everything I have commanded them, all of the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”
9 Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of Israel.
The Lord’s Discipline Leads to Repentance
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the Lord brought the officials of the army of the king of Assyria against them. They led Manasseh captive with hooks. They bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
12 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself deeply before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord responded to his prayer and heard his plea for mercy. He brought him back to Jerusalem into his own kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is the true God.
14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the City of David in the valley, from west of the Gihon Spring up to the entrance by the Fish Gate. He encircled Ophel with it and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the House of the Lord. He removed all the altars he had built on the mountain of the House of the Lord and in Jerusalem and threw them outside of the city. 16 He restored the altar of the Lord and offered sacrifices of fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it. He commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
Manasseh’s Death
18 You can find the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the annals of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer and how the Lord received it, all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built the high places and set the Asherah poles and the carved images before he humbled himself, you can find recorded in the chronicles of the seers.
20 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in his own house. Amon his son became king in his place.
Amon King of Judah
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled as king 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 images that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them. 23 But he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself. Instead, Amon even multiplied the guilt.
24 His servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25 Then the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon. The people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.
Josiah King of Judah
34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.
2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
Josiah Cleanses the Land
3 In the eighth year of his reign, when he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David. In the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images. 4 In his presence they tore down the altars of the Baals. He chopped down the sun pillars, which stood above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images into pieces and ground them to dust, which he scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He burned the bones of their priests on their altars. In this way he purified Judah and Jerusalem. 6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, as well as in the ruins around them, 7 he tore down the altars, the Asherah poles, and the images. He ground them into powder. He cut to pieces all the sun pillars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah Repairs the Temple
8 In the eighteenth year of his rule, in order to purify the land and the House, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Ma’aseiah the administrator of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the House of the Lord his God. 9 They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, from all of the remnant of Israel, and from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the residents of Jerusalem. 10 They gave it to those doing the work, to the ones who were organized to work in the House of the Lord. Those who were doing the work in the House of the Lord used it to repair and restore the building. 11 They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stones and timbers for joists and beams for the buildings which the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.
12 The men were doing the work faithfully. The supervisors appointed to oversee the work were Jahath and Obadiah, who were Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, who were Levites descended from Kohath. These Levites were all skillful with musical instruments. 13 They were in charge of the people transporting material and were overseers for all those doing the different kinds of work. Some of the Levites also served as scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.
Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law
14 When they brought out the silver that had been brought into the House of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been received from the hand of Moses. 15 Hilkiah responded by telling Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the House of the Lord.” Hilkiah then gave the scroll to Shaphan.
16 Shaphan brought the scroll to the king. He also brought this report to the king: “Your servants are doing everything they were assigned to do. 17 They have emptied the silver found in the House of the Lord from the chest and have delivered it to the overseers and to the workmen.”
18 Shaphan the secretary then told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. 19 When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothing.
20 The king gave this command to Hilkiah and to Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah servant of the king:[e] 21 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for those who remain in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book which has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is being poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord by doing everything that is written in this book.”
22 Hilkiah and the men the king sent with him went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah,[f] the keeper of the vestments.[g] She was living in Jerusalem in the Second District. They spoke to her concerning this matter.
23 She told them:
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Tell the man who sent you to me that 24 this is what the Lord says:
Look! I am bringing disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the curses written in the book which they read before the king of Judah— 25 because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all the work of their hands. My anger will be poured out on this place. It will not be quenched.
26 To the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, you will also say this:
The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken the words which you have heard. 27 But because your heart was receptive, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and because you have humbled yourself before me, have ripped your clothing, and have wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.
28 Listen to my response! I will gather you to your fathers. You will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.
They brought back this message to the king.
The Book of the Covenant Is Read and Followed
29 The king then summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 The king went up to the House of the Lord with all the men of Judah, with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest. In their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the House of the Lord.
31 The king stood in his place by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk in the way of the Lord, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, and to uphold the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
32 Then he made all those who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand up and do the same. The inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
Josiah Cleanses the Land
33 Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands that belonged to the people of Israel. He influenced everyone in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout all his days, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their fathers.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.