Chronological

Hezekiah’s Illness and Restoration

20 ^(A)In those days Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^(B)Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” ² Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, saying, ³ “^(C)Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, ^(D)how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And ^(E)Hezekiah wept ^[a]greatly. ⁴ Now it happened that Isaiah had not gone out of the middle court, and the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return and say to ^(F)Hezekiah the ruler of My people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “^(G)I have heard your prayer, ^(H)I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh. ⁶ And I will add fifteen years to your ^[b]life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^(I)I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”’” ⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he was restored to life.

⁸ Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “^(J)This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or turn back ten steps?” ¹⁰ So ^[c]Hezekiah ^[d]answered, “It is easy for the shadow to stretch forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” ¹¹ Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh, and ^(K)He turned the shadow on the ^[e]stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the ^[f]stairway of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

^12 (L)At that time ^[g]Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them ^(M)all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the good oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah said, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh. ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days are coming when ^(N)all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have treasured up to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says Yahweh. ¹⁸ ‘And some ^(O)of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away; and they will become ^(P)officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is ^(Q)good.” For he said, “Will it not be good, if there will be peace and truth in my days?”

^20 (R)Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he ^(S)made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^21 (T)So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Manasseh Reigns over Judah

21 ^(U)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. ^2 (V)And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, ^(W)according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³ Indeed, ^(X)he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and ^(Y)he erected altars for Baal and made an ^[h]Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and ^(Z)worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (AA)And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, “^(AB)In Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵ Indeed, he built altars for ^(AC)all the host of heaven in ^(AD)the two courts of the house of Yahweh. ^6 (AE)He even made his son pass through the fire, ^(AF)practiced soothsaying and interpreted omens, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much that was evil in the sight of Yahweh provoking Him to anger. ⁷ Then ^(AG)he put the graven image of Asherah, which he had made, in the house of which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, “^(AH)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. ⁸ And I ^(AI)will not make the foot of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh ^(AJ)led them astray in order to do more evil than the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Yahweh Brings Calamity on Israel

¹⁰ Then Yahweh spoke by the hand of His slaves the prophets, saying, ¹¹ “^(AK)Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations—^(AL)he has done evil more than all the Amorites did who were before him—and ^(AM)has also made Judah sin ^(AN)with his idols, ¹² therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, ^(AO)both his ears will tingle. ^13 (AP)And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the level of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish—he wipes it and turns it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies; ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’”

^16 (AQ)Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin ^(AR)with which he made Judah sin, in doing what is evil in the sight of Yahweh. ^17 (AS)Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^18 (AT)And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, ^(AU)in the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon Reigns over Judah

^19 (AV)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, ^(AW)as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹ And he walked in all the way that his father had walked and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them. ²² So ^(AX)he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. ^23 (AY)Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house. ²⁴ Then ^(AZ)the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ And he was buried in his grave ^(BA)in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.