Historical

20 In those days Hezekiah was sick and dying. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order; for you will die, and not live.’”

² Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, ³ “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, ⁵ “Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to Yahweh’s house. ⁶ I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”’”

⁷ Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.”

They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I will go up to Yahweh’s house the third day?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.”

¹¹ Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

¹² At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the storehouse of his precious things—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, or in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn’t show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? From where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, even from Babylon.”

¹⁵ He said, “What have they seen in your house?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

¹⁶ Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear Yahweh’s word. ¹⁷ ‘Behold, the days come that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says Yahweh. ¹⁸ ‘They will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will father; and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Yahweh’s word which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “Isn’t it so, if peace and truth will be in my days?”

²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²¹ Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 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 destroyed; and he raised up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them. ⁴ He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.” ⁵ He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of Yahweh’s house. ⁶ He made his son to pass through the fire, practiced sorcery, used enchantments, 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 Asherah that he had made in the house of which Yahweh 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 cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe 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 didn’t listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.

¹⁰ Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has also made Judah to sin with his idols; ¹² therefore Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. ¹³ I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plumb line of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will become a prey and a plunder to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’”

¹⁶ Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight.

¹⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his place.

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as Manasseh his father did. ²¹ He walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them; ²² and he abandoned Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn’t walk in the way of Yahweh. ²³ The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. ²⁴ 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. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

22 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left.

³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to Yahweh’s house, saying, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into Yahweh’s house, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people. ⁵ Let them deliver it into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of Yahweh’s house; and let them give it to the workers who are in Yahweh’s house, to repair the damage to the house, ⁶ to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house. ⁷ However, no accounting shall be asked of them for the money delivered into their hand, for they deal faithfully.”

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house.” Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of Yahweh’s house.” ¹⁰ Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me.” Then Shaphan read it before the king.

¹¹ When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. ¹² The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ¹³ “Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s wrath that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her. ¹⁵ She said to them, “Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ “Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷ Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’” ¹⁸ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, tell him, “Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Concerning the words which you have heard, ¹⁹ because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you,’ says Yahweh. ²⁰ ‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” So they brought this message back to the king.