The Daily Audio Bible

20 Around this time, Hizkiyahu became ill to the point of death. Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz, came and said to him, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not live.’” ² Hizkiyahu turned his face toward the wall and prayed to Adonai: ³ “I plead with you, Adonai, remember now how I have lived before you truly and wholeheartedly, and how I have done what you see as good.” And he cried bitter tears.

⁴ Before Yesha‘yahu had left the city’s middle courtyard, the word of Adonai came to him: ⁵ “Go back, and tell Hizkiyahu the prince of my people, that this is what Adonai, the God of David your ancestor, says: ‘I have heard your prayer and seen your tears, and I will heal you. On the third day, you are to go up to the house of Adonai. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. Also I will rescue you and this city from the power of the king of Ashur; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’” ⁷ Then Yesha‘yahu said, “Prepare a fig-plaster.” They brought it and laid it on the inflammation, so that he would recover.

⁸ Hizkiyahu said to Yesha‘yahu, “What sign will there be that Adonai will heal me and that I will be able to go up to the house of Adonai on the third day?” ⁹ Yesha‘yahu said, “Here is the sign for you from Adonai that Adonai will do what he said: do you want the shadow [of the sundial] to go forward ten intervals or backward ten intervals? ¹⁰ Hizkiyahu answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to go down ten intervals. No, let the shadow return backward ten intervals.” ¹¹ Yesha‘yahu called out to Adonai, and he brought the shadow on the sundial of Achaz ten intervals backward after it had gone down that far.

¹² B’rodakh-Bal’adan the son of Bal’adan, king of Bavel, heard that Hizkiyahu had been ill, so he sent a letter and a gift to him. ¹³ Hizkiyahu listened to [the messengers] and showed them the building where he kept his treasures, including the silver, gold, spices and precious oils; also the building where he kept his armor; and everything in his treasury — there was nothing in his palace or in his entire domain that Hizkiyahu did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Yesha‘yahu the prophet came to King Hizkiyahu and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?” Hizkiyahu answered, “They came from a distant country, Bavel.” ¹⁵ Yesha‘yahu asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” “They have seen everything in my palace,” said Hizkiyahu. “There isn’t a thing among my treasures that I haven’t shown them.” ¹⁶ Yesha‘yahu said to Hizkiyahu, “Hear what Adonai says: ¹⁷ ‘The day will come when everything in your palace, along with everything your ancestors stored up until today, will be carried off to Bavel. Nothing will be left,’ says Adonai. ¹⁸ ‘They will carry off some of your descendants, your own offspring; and they will be made eunuchs serving in the palace of the king of Bavel.’” ¹⁹ Hizkiyahu said to Yesha‘yahu, “The word of Adonai which you have just told me is good.” He thought, “Isn’t it, though, if peace and truth continue at least through my lifetime?”

²⁰ Other activities of Hizkiyahu, his power and how he built the pool and aqueduct to bring water into the city are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. ²¹ Then Hizkiyahu slept with his ancestors, and M’nasheh his son took his place as king.

21 M’nasheh was twelve years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Heftzibah. ² He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, following the disgusting practices of the nations whom Adonai had expelled ahead of the people of Isra’el. ³ For he rebuilt the high places Hizkiyahu his father had destroyed; he erected altars for Ba‘al and made an asherah, as had Ach’av king of Isra’el; and he worshipped all the army of heaven and served them. ⁴ He erected altars in the house of Adonai, about which Adonai had said, “In Yerushalayim I will put my name.” ⁵ He erected altars for all the army of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of Adonai. ⁶ He made his son pass through the fire [as a sacrifice]. He practiced soothsaying and divination and appointed mediums and persons who used spirit guides. He did much that was evil from Adonai’s perspective, thus provoking him to anger. ⁷ He set the carved image for the asherah he had made in the house concerning which Adonai had told David and Shlomo his son, “In this house and in Yerushalayim, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Isra’el, I will put my name forever. ⁸ Also I will not have the feet of Isra’el wander any longer out of the land which I gave their ancestors — if only they will take heed to obey every order I have given them and live in accordance with all the Torah that my servant Moshe ordered them to obey.” ⁹ But they did not take heed; and M’nasheh misled them into doing even worse things than the nations Adonai had destroyed ahead of the people of Isra’el.

¹⁰ Adonai spoke this message through his servants the prophets: ¹¹ “Because M’nasheh king of Y’hudah has done these disgusting things; because he has done things more wicked than anything the Emori, who were there before him, did; also because with his idols he made Y’hudah sin; ¹² therefore here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el, says: ‘I am going to bring such calamity on Yerushalayim and Y’hudah that the ears of all who hear of it will tingle. ¹³ I will measure Yerushalayim with the same measuring cord that I used over Shomron, the same plumbline as for the house of Ach’av. I will scour Yerushalayim clean just as one scours a plate, scouring it and then turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant of my heritage, delivering them into the power of their enemies — they will become prey and plunder for all their enemies; ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil from my perspective and have provoked me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt to this very day.’”

¹⁶ Moreover, M’nasheh shed so much innocent blood that he flooded Yerushalayim from one end to the other — this in addition to his sin through which he caused Y’hudah to sin by doing what is evil from Adonai’s perspective.

¹⁷ Other activities of M’nasheh, all his accomplishments and the sin he committed are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. ¹⁸ Then M’nasheh slept with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the Garden of ‘Uza; and Amon his son took his place as king.

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for two years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Meshulemet the daughter of Harutz from Yotvah. ²⁰ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, as had M’nasheh his father. ²¹ He followed entirely the manner of life of his father, serving the idols that his father served and worshipping them. ²² He abandoned Adonai, the God of his ancestors, and did not live in Adonai’s way.

²³ Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own palace. ²⁴ But the people of the land put to death all those who had been part of the conspiracy against King Amon. Then the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in place of him.

²⁵ Other activities of Amon and all he acomplished are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. ²⁶ Amon was buried in his tomb in the Garden of Uza, and Yoshiyahu his son took his place as king.

22 Yoshiyahu was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’didah the daughter of ‘Adayah from Botzkat. ² He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, living entirely in the manner of David his ancestor and turning away neither to the right nor to the left.

¹⁸ The next day Sha’ul and the rest of us went in to Ya‘akov, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹ After greeting them, Sha’ul described in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts.

²⁰ On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah. ²¹ Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all the Jews living among the Goyim to apostatize from Moshe, telling them not to have a b’rit-milah for their sons and not to follow the traditions.

²² “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. ²⁴ Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the Torah.

²⁵ “However, in regard to the Goyim who have come to trust in Yeshua, we all joined in writing them a letter with our decision that they should abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from fornication.”

²⁶ The next day Sha’ul took the men, purified himself along with them and entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and the offering would have to be made for each of them. ²⁷ The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him. ²⁸ “Men of Isra’el, help!” they shouted. “This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” ²⁹ (They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha’ul had brought him into the Temple.)

³⁰ The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha’ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. ³¹ But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil. ³² Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha’ul.

³³ Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn’t find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks. ³⁵ When Sha’ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild — ³⁶ the crowd kept following and screaming, “Kill him!”