Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 20

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

¹ In those days^(a) Hezekiah became terminally ill.^(b) The prophet Isaiah^(c) son of Amoz came and said to him, "This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order,^[a] for you are about to die; you will not recover.'"^(d)

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall^(e) and prayed to the Lord , ³ "Please Lord , remember^(f) how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases You."^[b](g) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.^(h)

⁴ Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader⁽ⁱ⁾ of My people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;^(j) I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord 's temple. ⁶ I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.'"^(k)

⁷ Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of pressed figs." So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.^(l)

⁸ Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What is the sign^(m) that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord 's temple on the third day?"

⁹ Isaiah said, "This is the sign⁽ⁿ⁾ to you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: Should the shadow go ahead 10 steps or go back 10 steps?"

¹⁰ Then Hezekiah answered, "It's easy for the shadow to lengthen 10 steps. No, let the shadow go back 10 steps." ¹¹ So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord , and He brought the shadow^[c] back the 10 steps it had descended on Ahaz's stairway.^[d](o)

Hezekiah's Folly

¹² At that time^(p) Merodach-baladan^[e] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah gave them a hearing and showed them his whole treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.^(q)

¹⁴ Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?"

Hezekiah replied, "They came from a distant country, from Babylon."

¹⁵ Isaiah asked, "What have they seen in your palace?"

Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything in my palace. There isn't anything in my treasuries that I didn't show them."

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord : ¹⁷ ‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,'^(r) says the Lord . ¹⁸ ‘Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away,^(s) and they will become eunuchs^[f] in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"^(t)

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,"^(u) for he thought: Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?

Hezekiah's Death

²⁰ The rest of the events of Hezekiah's reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool^(v) and the tunnel and brought water into the city,^(w) are written in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.^{(x) 21} Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.^(y)

Chapter 21

Judah's King Manasseh

¹ Manasseh^(a) was 12 years old when he became king and reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.^{(b) 2} He did what was evil in the Lord 's sight,^(c) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{(d) 3} He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed^(e) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,^(f) as King Ahab of Israel had done;^(g) he also worshiped the whole heavenly host^(h) and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord 's temple,⁽ⁱ⁾ where the Lord had said, "Jerusalem is where I will put My name."^{(j) 5} He built altars to the whole heavenly host^(k) in both courtyards of the Lord 's temple.^{(l) 6} He made his son pass through the fire,^(m) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.⁽ⁿ⁾ He did a great amount of evil in the Lord 's sight, provoking Him.^(o)

⁷ Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon, "I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^{(p) 8} I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that My servant Moses commanded them."^{(q) 9} But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did greater evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.^(r)

¹⁰ The Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ "Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these detestable things^(s)—greater evil than the Amorites^(t) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, ¹² this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.^{(u) 13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason's level used on the house of Ahab,^(v) and I will wipe^(w) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant^(x) of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in My sight and have provoked Me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.'"^(y)

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.^(z) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit. Consequently, they did what was evil in the Lord 's sight.

Manasseh's Death

¹⁷ The rest^(aa) of the events of Manasseh's reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.^{(ab) 18} Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah's King Amon

¹⁹ Amon was 22 years old when he became king^(ac) and reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what was evil in the Lord 's sight as his father Manasseh had done.^{(ad) 21} He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he worshiped them.^{(ae) 22} He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors^(af) and did not walk in the way of the Lord .^(ag)

²³ Amon's servants conspired against the king and killed him in his own house.^{(ah) 24} Then the common people^[a] executed^(ai) all those who had conspired against King Amon and made his son Josiah^(aj) king in his place.

²⁵ The rest of the events of Amon's reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings. ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Chapter 22

Judah's King Josiah

¹ Josiah^(a) was eight years old when he became king and reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.^{(b) 2} He did what was right in the Lord 's sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David;^(c) he did not turn to the right or the left.^(d)

Josiah Repairs the Temple

³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent the court secretary Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord 's temple,^(e) saying, ⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest so that he may total up the money brought into the Lord 's temple—the money the doorkeepers have collected from the people.^{(f) 5} It is to be put into the hands of those doing the work—those who oversee the Lord 's temple. They in turn are to give it to the workmen in the Lord 's temple to repair the damage.^{(g) 6} They are to give it to the carpenters, builders, and masons to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the temple.^{(h) 7} But no accounting is to be required from them for the money put into their hands since they work with integrity."⁽ⁱ⁾

The Book of the Law Found

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest told Shaphan the court secretary, "I have found the book of the law^(j) in the Lord 's temple," and he gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹ Then Shaphan the court secretary went to the king and reported,^[a] "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the temple and have put it into the hand of those doing the work—those who oversee the Lord 's temple." ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the court secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book," and Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.^(k)

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.^{(l) 12} Then he commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam^(m) son of Shaphan, Achbor⁽ⁿ⁾ son of Micaiah, Shaphan the court secretary, and the king's servant Asaiah: ¹³ "Go and inquire of the Lord for me, the people, and all Judah about the instruction in this book that has been found. For great is the Lord 's wrath that is kindled against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this book in order to do everything written about us."^(o)

Huldah's Prophecy of Judgment

¹⁴ So^(p) Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess^(q) Huldah, wife of Shallum son of Tikvah,^(r) son of Harhas,^[b] keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second District.^(s) They spoke with her.

¹⁵ She said to them, "This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘Say to the man who sent you to Me: ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, fulfilling all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read,^{(t) 17} because they have abandoned Me and burned incense to other gods in order to provoke Me with all the work of their hands. My wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.^{(u) 18} Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord : This is what the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard,^{(v) 19} because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord ^(w) when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse,^(x) and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you—this is the Lord 's declaration— ²⁰ therefore, I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace.^(y) Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place.'"

Then they reported^[c] to the king.

Chapter 23

Covenant Renewal

¹ So the king sent messengers,^(a) and they gathered all the elders^(b) of Jerusalem and Judah to him. ² Then the king went to the Lord 's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant^(c) that had been found in the Lord 's temple.^{(d) 3} Next, the king stood by the pillar^[a](e) and made a covenant^(f) in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commands, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart,^(g) and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to^[b] the covenant.^(h)

Josiah's Reforms

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah⁽ⁱ⁾ the high priest and the priests of the second rank^(j) and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord 's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host.^(k) He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.^{(l) 5} Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places^(m) in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host.^{(n) 6} He brought out the Asherah pole^(o) from the Lord 's temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,^(p) beat it to dust,^(q) and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.^{[c](r) 7} He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes^(s) that were in the Lord 's temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries^[d] for Asherah.^(t)

⁸ Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places^(u) from Geba^(v) to Beer-sheba,^(w) where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate). ⁹ The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.^(x)