Beginning

32 After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, entered into Judah, encamped against the fortified cities, and intended to win them for himself. ² When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he was planning to fight against Jerusalem, ³ he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the springs which were outside of the city, and they helped him. ⁴ Then many people gathered together and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the middle of the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find abundant water?”

⁵ He took courage, built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers, with the other wall outside, and strengthened Millo in David’s city, and made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶ He set captains of war over the people, gathered them together to him in the wide place at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ⁷ “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude who is with him; for there is a greater one with us than with him. ⁸ An arm of flesh is with him, but Yahweh our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles.” The people rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁹ After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was attacking Lachish, and all his forces were with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰ Sennacherib king of Assyria says, “In whom do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Doesn’t Hezekiah persuade you to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, ‘Yahweh our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria’? ¹² Hasn’t the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall worship before one altar, and you shall burn incense on it’? ¹³ Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand? ¹⁴ Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁵ Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you nor persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god 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 will your God deliver you out of my hand?”

¹⁶ His servants spoke yet more against Yahweh God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ He also wrote letters insulting Yahweh, the God of Israel, and speaking against him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver his people out of my hand.” ¹⁸ They called out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and to trouble them, that they might take the city. ¹⁹ They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.

²⁰ Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.

²¹ Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, the leaders, and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, those who came out of his own body^[a] killed him there with the sword. ²² Thus Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. ²³ Many brought gifts to Yahweh to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from then on.

²⁴ In those days Hezekiah was terminally ill, and he prayed to Yahweh; and he spoke to him, and gave him a sign. ²⁵ But Hezekiah didn’t reciprocate appropriate to the benefit done for him, because his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath on him, Judah, and Jerusalem. ²⁶ However, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that Yahweh’s wrath didn’t come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

²⁷ Hezekiah had exceedingly great riches and honor. He provided himself with treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of valuable vessels; ²⁸ also storehouses for the increase of grain, new wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of animals, and flocks in folds. ²⁹ Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him abundant possessions. ³⁰ This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of David’s city. Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

³¹ However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

³² Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds, 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 Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent to the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. ³ For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he raised up altars for the Baals, made Asheroth, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them. ⁴ He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of Yahweh’s house. ⁶ He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. ⁷ He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s house, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “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 any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given by Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰ Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they didn’t listen. ¹¹ Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

¹² When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.

¹⁴ Now after this, he built an outer wall to David’s city on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate. He encircled Ophel with it, and raised it up to a very great height; and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵ He took away the foreign gods and the idol out of Yahweh’s house, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of Yahweh’s house and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. ¹⁶ He built up Yahweh’s altar, and offered sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving on it, and commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹⁷ Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.

¹⁸ Now 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 Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer also, and how God listened to his request, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.^{[b] 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 he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³ He didn’t humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more. ²⁴ His servants conspired against him, and put him to death 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 thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left. ³ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, 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, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images. ⁴ They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ He did this in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins. ⁷ He broke down the altars, beat the Asherah poles and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, then returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder to repair the house of Yahweh his God. ⁹ They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into God’s house, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered from the hands of Manasseh, Ephraim, of all the remnant of Israel, of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They delivered it into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of Yahweh’s house; and the workmen who labored in Yahweh’s house gave it to mend and repair the house. ¹¹ They gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy cut stone and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹² The men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to give direction; and others of the Levites, who were all skillful with musical instruments. ¹³ Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and directed all who did the work in every kind of service. Of the Levites, there were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ When they brought out the money that was brought into Yahweh’s house, Hilkiah the priest found the book of Yahweh’s law given by Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house.” So Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, “All that was committed to your servants, they are doing. ¹⁷ They have emptied out the money that was found in Yahweh’s house, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and into the hand of the workmen.” ¹⁸ Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book.” Shaphan read from it to the king.

¹⁹ When the king had heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. ²⁰ The king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ²¹ “Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s wrath that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept Yahweh’s word, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and those whom the king had commanded went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter), and they spoke to her to that effect.

²³ She said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴ “Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even 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 have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath is poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.’”’ ²⁶ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, you shall tell him this, ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says: “About the words which you have heard, ²⁷ because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you,” says Yahweh. ²⁸ “Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes won’t see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.”’”

They brought back this message to the king.

²⁹ Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to Yahweh’s house with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests, the Levites, and all the people, both great and small—and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in Yahweh’s house. ³¹ The king stood in his place and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³² He caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they didn’t depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.