Study Desk

After these ^(F1)acts of faithfulness ^(C1)Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, and ^(F2)intended to break into them for himself.

Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that ^(F1)he intended to wage war against Jerusalem,

he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him.

So many people assembled ^(C1)and stopped up all the springs and ^(C2)the stream which flowed ^(F1)through the region, saying, "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?"

And he resolutely set to work and ^(C1)rebuilt all of the wall that had been broken down and ^(F1)erected towers on it, and built ^(C2)another outside wall and strengthened the ^(F2)(C3)Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great numbers.

He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the public square at the city gate, and ^(C1)spoke ^(F1)encouragingly to them, saying,

"^(C1)Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; ^(C2)for the One with us is greater than the one with him.

"With him is only ^(C1)an arm of flesh, but ^(C2)with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

After this ^(C1)Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was ^(F1)besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying,

"This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: 'On what are you trusting that you are staying in Jerusalem under siege?

'Is Hezekiah not misleading you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, "The LORD our God will save us from the ^(F1)hand of the king of Assyria"?

'^(C1)Is it not the same Hezekiah who removed His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and ^(F1)Jerusalem, "You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall ^(F2)burn incense"?

'Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? ^(C1)Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to save their land from my hand?

'^(C1)Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could save his people from my hand, that your God would be able to save you from my hand?

'Now then, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for ^(C1)no god of any nation or kingdom was able to save his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God save you from my hand?'"

His servants spoke further against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah.

He also wrote letters to insult the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, "^(C1)As the gods of the nations of the lands ^(F1)have not saved their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not save His people from my hand."

^(C1)They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city.

They spoke ^(F1)of the God of Jerusalem as they did against ^(C1)the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of human hands.

But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed about this and called out to heaven for help.

And the LORD sent an angel who destroyed every warrior, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned ^(F1)in shame to his own land. And when he had entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him there with the sword.

So the LORD ^(C1)saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and ^(F1)guided them on every side.

And ^(C1)many were bringing gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem and valuable presents to Hezekiah king of Judah; so thereafter ^(C2)he rose in the sight of all nations.

^(C1)In those days Hezekiah became ^(F1)mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and ^(F2)the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign.

But Hezekiah did nothing in return for the benefit ^(F1)he received, ^(C1)because his heart was ^(F2)proud; ^(C2)therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

However, ^(C1)Hezekiah ^(F1)humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

Now Hezekiah had immense riches and honor; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles,

also storehouses for the produce of grain, wine, and oil; stalls for all kinds of cattle, and ^(F1)sheepfolds for the flocks.

He made cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance, because ^(C1)God had given him very great ^(F1)wealth.

It was Hezekiah who ^(C1)stopped the upper outlet of the waters of ^(C2)Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah was successful in everything that he did.

Even in the matter of ^(C1)the messengers of the rulers of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about ^(C2)the wonder that had happened in the land; God left him alone only ^(C3)to test him, so that He might know everything that was in his heart.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of devotion, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

So Hezekiah ^(F1)lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the ^(F2)upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^(C1)honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.

^(C1)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

^(C1)He did evil in the sight of the LORD according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

For ^(C1)he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down; ^(C2)he also set up altars for the Baals and made ^(F1)Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly ^(F2)lights and served them.

^(C1)He built altars in the house of the LORD of which the LORD had said, "My name shall be ^(C2)in Jerusalem forever."

He built altars for all the heavenly ^(F1)lights in ^(C1)the two courtyards of the house of the LORD.

^(C1)He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and ^(C2)dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

Then he put ^(C1)the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, "^(C2)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;

and I will not remove the foot of Israel again from the land ^(C1)which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will take care to do everything that I have commanded them according to all the Law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses."

So Manasseh encouraged Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.

So the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but ^(C1)they paid no attention.

^(C1)Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, ^(C2)bound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon.

When ^(C1)he was in distress, he appeased the LORD his God and ^(C2)humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

When he prayed to Him, ^(C1)He was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh ^(C2)knew that the LORD alone is God.

Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of ^(C1)Gihon, in the valley, up to the entrance of the ^(C2)Fish Gate; and he encircled the ^(C3)Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.

He also ^(C1)removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed ^(C1)peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

However, ^(C1)the people still sacrificed on the high places, although only to the LORD their God.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and ^(C1)his prayer to his God, and the words of ^(C2)the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of ^(C3)Israel.

His prayer also and ^(C1)how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and ^(C2)the sites on which he built high places and erected the ^(F1)Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of ^(F2)Hozai.

So Manasseh ^(F1)lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

^(C1)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem.

He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh ^(C1)had done, and Amon sacrificed to all ^(C2)the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

Furthermore, he did not humble himself before the LORD ^(C1)as his father Manasseh had ^(F1)done, but Amon multiplied his guilt.

Finally, ^(C1)his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

But the people of the land ^(F1)killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

^(C1)Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

^(C1)He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to ^(C1)seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began ^(C2)to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the ^(F1)Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images.

They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he chopped down ^(C1)the incense altars that were high above them; also he broke in pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images, and ^(C2)ground them to powder, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

Then ^(C1)he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem.

^(C1)In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding spaces,

he also tore down the altars and ^(C1)crushed the ^(F1)Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

^(C1)Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah ^(C2)an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the secretary, to repair the house of the LORD his God.

They came to ^(C1)Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the ^(F1)doorkeepers, had collected ^(F2)from ^(C2)Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then they handed it over to the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and the workmen who were working in the house of the LORD ^(F1)used it to restore and repair the house.

They in turn gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses ^(C1)which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.

^(C1)The men did the work faithfully with foremen over them to supervise: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites, and ^(C2)the Levites, all who were skillful with musical instruments.

They were also in charge of ^(C1)the burden bearers, and supervised all the workmen from job to job; and some of the Levites were scribes, and officials, and gatekeepers.

When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the LORD, ^(C1)Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given by Moses.

Hilkiah responded and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

Then Shaphan brought the book to the king and ^(F1)reported further word to the king, saying, "Everything that was ^(F2)entrusted to your servants, they are doing.

"They have also emptied out the money which was found in the house of the LORD, and have handed it over to the supervisors and the workmen."

Moreover, Shaphan the scribe informed the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest gave me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

When the king heard ^(C1)the words of the Law, ^(C2)he tore his clothes.

Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, ^(F1)Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

"Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found; for ^(C1)the wrath of the LORD which has poured out on us is great, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to act in accordance with everything that is written in this book."

So Hilkiah and those ^(F1)whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ^(F2)Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe (she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her regarding this.

Then she said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Tell the man who sent you to Me,

this is what the LORD says: "Behold, ^(C1)I am bringing ^(F1)evil on this place and on its inhabitants, all ^(C2)the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah.

"^(C1)Since they have abandoned Me and have burned incense to other gods, so that they may provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, My wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched."'

"But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, this is what you shall say to him: 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: In regard to the words which you have heard,

"^(C1)Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes, and wept before Me, I have indeed heard you," declares the LORD.

"Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I am bringing on this place and its inhabitants."'" And they brought back word to the king.

^(C1)Then the king sent word and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

The king went up to the house of the LORD ^(F1)with ^(C1)all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read in their ^(F2)presence all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

Then the king ^(C1)stood ^(F1)in his place and ^(C2)made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that are written in this book.

Furthermore, he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand with him. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

Josiah ^(C1)removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. Throughout his ^(F1)lifetime they did not turn from following the LORD God of their fathers.

Then Josiah ^(C1)celebrated the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and ^(C2)they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month.

He appointed the priests to their offices and ^(C1)encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD.

He also said to ^(C1)the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; ^(C2)it will not be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

"^(C1)Prepare yourselves by your fathers' households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and ^(C2)according to the writing of his son Solomon.

"Furthermore, ^(C1)stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers' households of your countrymen, the ^(F1)lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father's household.

"Now ^(C1)slaughter the Passover animals, ^(C2)keep one another consecrated, and prepare for your countrymen to act in accordance with the word of the LORD by Moses."

Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering thirty thousand, plus three thousand bulls; these were from the king's property.

His officers also contributed a ^(F1)voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, ^(C1)the officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 from the flocks and three hundred bulls, for the Passover offerings.

^(C1)Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed five thousand from the flocks and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.

So the service was prepared, and ^(C1)the priests stood at their positions and the Levites by their divisions according to the king's command.

^(F1)(C1)They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while ^(C2)the priests ^(F2)sprinkled the blood received from their hand, ^(C3)the Levites skinned the animals.

Then they removed the burnt offerings so that they might give them to the sections of the fathers' households of the lay people to present to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did this with the bulls as well.

So ^(C1)they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled ^(C2)the holy things in pots, in kettles, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the lay people.

Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their positions ^(C1)according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and ^(C2)the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD according to the command of King Josiah.

And ^(C1)the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

^(C1)There had not been a Passover celebrated like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign this Passover was celebrated.