2 Kings 16 - 22 — Legacy Standard Bible

Ahaz Reigns over Judah

16In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, ^aAhaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. ²^aAhaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of Yahweh his God, as David his father had done. ³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, ^aand even made his son pass through the fire, ^baccording to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel. ⁴He also ^asacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

⁵Then ^aRezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, ^bbut could not ¹overcome him. ⁶At that time Rezin king of Aram restored ^aElath for Aram and cleared the Judeans out of ¹Elath entirely; and the ²Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.

Ahaz Sends for Help from Assyria

⁷^aSo Ahaz sent messengers to ^bTiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the ¹hand of the king of Aram and from the ²hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸^aAhaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria. ⁹^aSo the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and ^bseized it and took the people of it away into exile to ^cKir, and put Rezin to death.

Ahaz Has Urijah Build an Altar

¹⁰Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^aTiglath-pileser king of Assyria and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to ^bUrijah the priest the likeness of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, ¹before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. ¹²So the king came from Damascus, and the king saw the altar; then ^athe king drew near the altar and ¹made offerings on it, ¹³and offered his burnt offering and his meal offering up in smoke, and poured his drink offering and splashed the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴^aNow as for the bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, ¹he drew it away from the front of the house, from between ^bhis altar and the house of Yahweh, and he put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵Then King Ahaz ¹commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “Upon the great altar offer up in smoke ^athe morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offerings; and splash on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But ^bthe bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷Then King Ahaz ^acut off the borders of the stands and removed the laver from them; he also ^btook down the sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁸And the covered way for the sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of Yahweh because of the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written ^ain the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰So ^aAhaz slept with his fathers and ^bwas buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

17In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^aHoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned nine years. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³^aShalmaneser king of Assyria went up ^bagainst him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. ⁴But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.

⁵Then the king of Assyria went up against the whole land and he went up to ^aSamaria and besieged it three years.

Israel Exiled to Assyria

⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea, ^athe king of Assyria captured Samaria and ^btook Israel away into exile to Assyria, and ^csettled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of ^dGozan, and ^ein the cities of the Medes.

Israel Rejects Yahweh

⁷Now ^athis happened because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God—^bwho had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt—^cand they had ¹feared other gods ⁸and ^awalked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel, and in the statutes ^bof the kings of Israel which they had made. ⁹And the sons of Israel ¹did things secretly which were not right against Yahweh their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from ^awatchtower to fortified city. ¹⁰^aAnd they set for themselves sacred pillars and ¹^,^bAsherim on every high hill and under every green tree, ¹¹and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which Yahweh had taken away into exile before them; and they did evil things provoking Yahweh to anger. ¹²And they served idols, ^aconcerning which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” ¹³Yet ^aYahweh warned Israel and Judah ^bby the hand of all His prophets and ^cevery seer, saying, “^dTurn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by the hand of My slaves the prophets.” ¹⁴However, they did not listen, but ^astiffened their neck ¹like their fathers, who did not believe in Yahweh their God. ¹⁵^aThey also rejected His statutes and ^bHis covenant which He cut with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And ^cthey followed vanity and ^dbecame vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which ^eYahweh had commanded them not to do like them. ¹⁶And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God and made for themselves molten images, even ^atwo calves, and ^bmade an ¹Asherah and ^cworshiped all the host of heaven and ^dserved Baal. ¹⁷Then ^athey made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and ^bpracticed divination and omens, and ^csold themselves to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger. ¹⁸So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and ^acaused them to depart from His ¹presence; ^bnone was left except the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹Also ^aJudah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but ^bwalked in the statutes ¹which Israel had made. ²⁰So Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and ^agave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them ¹from His presence.

²¹When ^aHe had torn Israel from the house of David, ^bthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then ^cJeroboam drove Israel away from following Yahweh and made them sin a great sin. ²²And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them ²³^auntil Yahweh caused Israel to depart from His presence, ^bas He spoke through all His slaves the prophets. ^cSo Israel went into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Exiled Men in the Cities of Samaria

²⁴^aAnd the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from ¹^,^bAvva and from ^cHamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵Now it happened at the beginning of their settlement there, that they ^adid not fear Yahweh; therefore Yahweh sent lions among them which were killing them. ²⁶So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have taken away into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are putting them to death because they do not know the custom of the god of the land.”

²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Take there one of the priests whom you took away into ¹exile and let ²him go and live there; and let him instruct them the custom of the god of the land.” ²⁸So one of the priests whom they had taken away into exile from Samaria came and settled at Bethel, and instructed them how they should fear Yahweh.

²⁹But each nation was still making gods of its own and put them ^ain the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, each nation in their cities in which they lived. ³⁰^aAnd the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and ^athe Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to ^bAdrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the ^cSepharvaim. ³²^aThey were also fearing Yahweh and ¹^,^bappointed from among all of themselves priests of the high places, and they were acting for them in the houses of the high places. ³³They were fearing Yahweh and serving their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been taken away into exile.

³⁴To this day they are acting according to the earlier customs: they are not fearing Yahweh; they are not acting according to their statutes or their judgments or the law, or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, ^awhom He named Israel; ³⁵with whom Yahweh cut a covenant and commanded them, saying, “^aYou shall not fear other gods, nor ^bworship them nor ^cserve them nor sacrifice to them. ³⁶“But Yahweh, ^awho brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with ^ban outstretched arm, ^cHim you shall fear, and to Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷“And the statutes and the judgments and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^ayou shall be careful to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸“And the covenant that I have cut with you, ^ayou shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. ³⁹“But Yahweh your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰However, they did not listen, but they were acting according to their earlier custom. ⁴¹^aSo while these nations were fearing Yahweh, they also were serving their graven images; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers acted, so they are acting this way to this day.

Hezekiah Reigns over Judah

18Now it happened ^ain the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that ^bHezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. ²He was ^atwenty-five years old when he became king; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. ³^aAnd he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴^aHe took away the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the ¹Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^bthe bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it; and it was called ²Nehushtan. ⁵^aHe trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; ^bso that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. ⁶So he ^aclung to Yahweh; he did not turn away from following Him, but kept His commandments, which Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Hezekiah Prospers

⁷^aAnd Yahweh was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And ^bhe rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ⁸^aHe struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from ^bwatchtower to fortified city.

⁹Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, ^aShalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰And at the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was ^athe ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. ¹¹Then the king of Assyria took Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in ^aHalah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they ^adid not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God, but trespassed against His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.

Sennacherib Comes Up Against Judah

¹³^aNow in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “^aI have done wrong. Turn away from me; whatever penalty you give to me I will bear.” So the king of Assyria set a penalty on Hezekiah king of Judah ¹three hundred talents of silver and ²thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵^aThus Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Yahweh and from the doorposts, which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷Then the king of Assyria sent ^aTartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a heavy military force to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the ^bconduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the ¹fuller’s field. ¹⁸Then they called to the king, and ^aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^bShebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

¹⁹Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “^aWhat is this trust that you have? ²⁰“You say (but they are ¹only empty words), ‘I have counsel and might for the war.’ Now on whom do you trust, ^athat you have rebelled against me? ²¹“Now behold, you ¹^,^atrust in the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his ²hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²²“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ is it not He whose high places and ^awhose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? ²³“So now, ¹come, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to give riders for them. ²⁴“How then can you ¹turn away one ²official of the least of my master’s servants, and trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵“So now, have I come up ¹without the approval of Yahweh against this place to make it a ruin? Yahweh said to me, ‘Go up against this land and make it a ruin.’”’”

²⁶Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we ¹understand it; and do not speak with us in ²^,^aJudean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

²⁸Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, ¹saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹“Thus says the king, ‘^aDo not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from ¹his hand; ³⁰and do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ³¹‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, “¹Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat ^aeach of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, ³²until I come and take you away ^ato a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” ³³‘^aHas any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴‘^aWhere are the gods of Hamath and ^bArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ¹^,^cIvvah? When have they delivered Samaria from my hand? ³⁵‘Who among all the gods of the lands ¹have delivered their land from my hand, ^athat Yahweh would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

³⁶But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷Then ^aEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^bwith their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Tells Hezekiah Not to Be Afraid

19^aNow it happened that when King Hezekiah heard it, he ^btore his clothes, ^ccovered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh. ²Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, ^acovered with sackcloth, to ^bIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, reproof, and rejection; for children have come to the point of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth. ⁴‘^aPerhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^bto ¹reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, lift up a prayer for ^cthe remnant that is left.’” ⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the ^ayoung men of the king of Assyria ^bhave blasphemed Me. ⁷“Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that ^ahe will hear a report and return to his own land. And ^bI will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

Sennacherib Deceives Hezekiah

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^aLibnah, for he had heard that ¹the king had set out from ^bLachish. ⁹Then he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ¹Ethiopia, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying, ¹⁰“Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ¹Judah, ‘Do not ^alet your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “^bJerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. So will you be delivered? ¹²‘^aDid the gods of ¹those nations which my fathers brought to ruin deliver them, even ^bGozan and ^cHaran and Rezeph and ^dthe sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³‘^aWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴Then ^aHezekiah took the ¹letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of Yahweh and ²spread it out before Yahweh. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^awho is ¹enthroned above the cherubim, ^bYou are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶“^aIncline Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; ^bopen Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, who sent them ^cto ¹reproach the living God. ¹⁷“Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸and have put their gods into the fire, ^afor they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹“But now, O Yahweh our God, I pray, save us from his hand ^athat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O ^bYahweh, are God.”

Isaiah Speaks of Sennacherib’s Fall

²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ^aI have heard you.’ ²¹“This is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him: ‘She has despised you and mocked you,^aThe virgin daughter of Zion;She ^bhas shaken her head behind you,The daughter of Jerusalem!

²²‘Whom have you ¹^,^areproached and ^bblasphemed?And against whom have you heightened your voice,And ²haughtily lifted up your eyes?Against the ^cHoly One of Israel!²³‘^aThrough your messengers you have ¹reproached the Lord,And you have said, “With my many chariotsI came up to the heights of the mountains,To the remotest parts of Lebanon;And I ²cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.And I ³entered its farthest lodging place, its ^bthickest forest.²⁴“I dug wells and drank foreign waters,And with the sole of my feet I ¹^,^adried upAll the rivers of ²Egypt.”²⁵‘^aHave you not heard?Long ago I did it;From days of old I formed it.^bNow I have brought it to pass,That you should devastate fortified cities into ruinous heaps.²⁶‘So their inhabitants were short of power,They were dismayed and put to shame;They were ^aas the plant of the field and as the green herb,As grass on the rooftops is scorched before it rises.²⁷‘But ^aI know your sitting down,And your going out and your coming in,And your raging against Me.²⁸‘Because of your raging against Me,And because your ¹presumptuousness has come up to My ears,Therefore I ^awill put My hook in your nose,And My bridle in your lips,And ^bI will turn you back by the way which you came.

²⁹‘Then this shall be ^athe sign for you: ¹you will eat this year what grows of its own accord, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³⁰‘^aAnd the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹‘For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and ^aout of Mount Zion ¹survivors. ^bThe zeal of ²Yahweh will do this.

³²‘Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, “^aHe will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. ³³“^aBy the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares Yahweh. ³⁴‘^aIndeed I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and ^bfor My servant David’s sake.’”

³⁵^aNow it happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And the ¹men arose early in the morning, and behold, all of ²them were dead bodies. ³⁶So ^aSennacherib king of Assyria set out and went away and returned home and lived at ^bNineveh. ³⁷Now it happened that as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ¹^,^aAdrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into ^bthe land of Ararat. And ^cEsarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Restoration

20^aIn 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, ‘^bSet your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’” ²Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, saying, ³“^aRemember now, O Yahweh, I beseech You, ^bhow I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And ^cHezekiah wept ¹greatly. ⁴Now 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 ^aHezekiah the ruler of My people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of your father David, “^bI have heard your prayer, ^cI 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 ¹life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^aI will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”’” ⁷Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he was restored to life.

⁸Now 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?” ⁹And Isaiah said, “^aThis 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?” ¹⁰So ¹Hezekiah ²answered, “It is easy for the shadow to stretch forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” ¹¹Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh, and ^aHe turned the shadow on the ¹stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the ²stairway of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows Babylon His Treasures

¹²^aAt that time ¹Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³And Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them ^aall 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. ¹⁴Then 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.” ¹⁵And 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.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh. ¹⁷‘Behold, the days are coming when ^aall 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 ^aof your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away; and they will become ^bofficials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” ¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is ^agood.” For he said, “Will it not be good, if there will be peace and truth in my days?”

²⁰^aNow the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he ^bmade 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^aSo Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

Manasseh Reigns over Judah

21^aManasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. ²^aAnd he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, ^baccording to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³Indeed, ^ahe rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and ^bhe erected altars for Baal and made an ¹Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and ^cworshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴^aAnd he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, “^bIn Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵Indeed, he built altars for ^aall the host of heaven in ^bthe two courts of the house of Yahweh. ⁶^aHe even made his son pass through the fire, ^bpracticed 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. ⁷Then ^ahe 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, “^bIn this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. ⁸“And I ^awill 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.” ⁹But they did not listen, and Manasseh ^aled them astray in order to do more evil than the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Yahweh Brings Calamity on Israel

¹⁰Then Yahweh spoke by the hand of His slaves the prophets, saying, ¹¹“^aBecause Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations—^bhe has done evil more than all the Amorites did who were before him—and ^chas also made Judah sin ^dwith his idols, ¹²therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, ^aboth his ears will tingle. ¹³‘^aAnd 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; ¹⁵because 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^aMoreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin ^bwith which he made Judah sin, in doing what is evil in the sight of Yahweh. ¹⁷^aNow 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^aAnd Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, ^bin the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon Reigns over Judah

¹⁹^aAmon 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. ²⁰And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, ^aas Manasseh his father had done. ²¹And he walked in all the way that his father had walked and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them. ²²So ^ahe forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. ²³^aThen the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house. ²⁴Then ^athe 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. ²⁵Now 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? ²⁶And he was buried in his grave ^ain the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.

Josiah Reigns over Judah

22^aJosiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of ^bBozkath. ²And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh and walked in all the way of his father David and did not ^aturn aside to the right or to the left.

³Now it happened ^ain the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of Yahweh saying, ⁴“^aGo up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may ¹count the money brought into the house of Yahweh which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. ⁵“^aAnd let them give it into the hand of those who do the work, who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh, and let them give it to those who do the work, who are in the house of Yahweh, to repair the ¹damages of the house, ⁶to the craftsmen and the builders and the masons and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house. ⁷“Only ^ano accounting shall be made with them for the money given into their hands, for they deal faithfully.”

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

⁸Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “^aI have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it. ⁹Then Shaphan the scribe came to the king and responded to the king with a word and said, “Your servants have poured out the money that was found in the house and have given it into the hand of those who do the work, who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh.” ¹⁰Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

¹¹Now it happened that when the king heard the words of the book of the law, ^ahe tore his clothes. ¹²Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, ^aAhikam the son of Shaphan, ¹^,^bAchbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ¹³“Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and the people and all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found, for ^agreat is the wrath of Yahweh which is set aflame against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

Huldah Says Yahweh Is Bringing Evil

¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ¹^,^aTikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the ^bSecond Quarter); and they spoke to her. ¹⁵And she said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Say to the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I ^aam bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷“^aBecause 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 is set aflame against this place, and it shall not be quenched.”’ ¹⁸“But to ^athe king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Yahweh thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Regarding the words which you have heard, ¹⁹^abecause your heart was soft and ^byou humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become ^can object of horror, and a ^dcurse, and you have ^etorn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares Yahweh. ²⁰“Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and ^ayou will be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.”’” So they brought back word to the king.