The Daily Audio Bible

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20 ^(A)In those days Hezekiah became ^[a]mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘^(B)Set your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’” ² Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Please, Lord, just ^(C)remember ^(D)how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight!” And ^(E)Hezekiah wept ^[b]profusely. ⁴ And even before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return and say to ^(F)Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says: “^(G)I have heard your prayer, ^(H)I have seen your tears; behold, I am going to heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ And I will add fifteen years to your ^[c]life, and I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^(I)I will protect 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 it and placed it on the inflamed spot, and he recovered.

⁸ Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ Isaiah said, “^(J)This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform the word that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ So Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but have the shadow turn backward ten steps.” ¹¹ Then Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and ^(K)He brought the shadow on the ^[d]stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the ^[e]stairway of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

^12 (L)At that time ^[f]Berodach-baladan, a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah listened to ^[g]them, and showed them ^(M)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the balsam oil, the ^[h]scented oil, the house of his armor, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his realm 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 Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah ^[i]answered, “They have seen everything 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 the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days are coming when ^(N)everything that is in your house, and what your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘And some ^(O)of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, 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 the Lord which you have spoken is ^(Q)good.” For he ^[j]thought, “Is it not good, if there will be peace and ^[k]security in my days?”

^20 (R)Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he ^(S)constructed 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 ^[l]lay down with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah

21 ^(U)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. ^2 (V)He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(W)in accordance with the abominations of the nations whom the Lord ^[m]dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³ For ^(X)he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and ^(Y)he erected altars for Baal and made an ^[n]Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he ^(Z)worshiped all the heavenly ^[o]lights and served them. ⁴ And ^(AA)he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “^(AB)In Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵ He built altars for ^(AC)all the heavenly ^[p]lights in ^(AD)the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. ⁶ And ^(AE)he made his son pass through the fire, ^(AF)interpreted signs, practiced divination, and used mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. ⁷ Then ^(AG)he put the carved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “^(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 feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will take care to act in accordance with everything that I have commanded them, and with all the Law that My servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh ^(AJ)encouraged them to do evil, more than the nations whom the Lord eliminated from the presence of the sons of Israel.

The King’s Idolatries Rebuked

¹⁰ Now the Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ “^(AK)Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations, ^(AL)having done more evil than all that the Amorites did who were before him, and ^(AM)has also misled Judah into sin ^(AN)with his idols, ¹² therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears about it, ^(AO)both of his ears will ring. ^13 (AP)I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes a bowl, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoils to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.’”

^16 (AQ)Furthermore, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem ^[q]from one end to another, besides his sin ^(AR)into which he misled Judah, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord. ^17 (AS)Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and his sin which he ^[r]committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^18 (AT)And Manasseh ^[s]lay down with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, ^(AU)in the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Succeeds Manasseh

^19 (AV)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AW)just as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ For he walked ^[t]entirely in the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them. ²² So ^(AX)he abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³ And ^(AY)the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house. ²⁴ Then ^(AZ)the people of the land ^[u]killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah 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 He was buried in his grave ^(BA)in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Josiah Succeeds Amon

22 ^(BB)Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of ^(BC)Bozkath. ² He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked ^[v]entirely in the way of his father David, and did not ^(BD)turn aside to the right or to the left.

¹⁸ And the following day Paul went in with us to ^[a](A)James, and all ^(B)the elders were present. ¹⁹ After he had greeted them, he ^(C)began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ^(D)ministry. ²⁰ And when they heard about them, they began ^(E)glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many ^[b]thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all ^(F)zealous for the Law; ²¹ and they have been told about you, that you are ^(G)teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them ^(H)not to circumcise their children nor to ^[c]walk according to ^(I)the customs. ²² So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ Therefore, do ^[d]as we tell you: we have four men who ^(J)have a ^[e]vow upon themselves; ²⁴ take them along and ^(K)purify yourself together with them, and ^[f]pay their expenses so that they may ^(L)shave their ^[g]heads; and then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also conform, keeping the Law. ²⁵ But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we sent a letter, ^(M)having decided that they should abstain from ^[h]meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and what is ^[i]strangled, and from sexual immorality.” ²⁶ Then Paul ^[j]took along the men, and the next day, after ^(N)purifying himself together with them, he ^(O)went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

Paul Seized in the Temple

²⁷ When ^(P)the seven days were almost over, ^(Q)the Jews from ^[k](R)Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! ^(S)This is the man who instructs everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has ^(T)defiled this holy place!” ²⁹ For they had previously seen ^(U)Trophimus the ^(V)Ephesian in the city with him, and they thought that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰ Then the whole city was provoked and ^[l]the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they ^(W)dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹ While they were intent on killing him, a report came up to the commander of the ^(X)Roman ^[m]cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³² He immediately ^(Y)took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to ^[n]the crowd; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered that he be ^(Z)bound with ^(AA)two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ But among the crowd, ^(AB)some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the ^[o]facts because of the uproar, he ordered that ^[p]Paul be brought into ^(AC)the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul got to ^(AD)the stairs, it came about that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the ^[q]mob; ³⁶ for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting, “^(AE)Away with him!”

A Psalm of Praise.