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Sennacherib Invades Judah

32 After these faithful deeds were accomplished, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities, intending to seize them.[a] When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had invaded and intended to attack Jerusalem,[b] he consulted with his advisers and military officers about stopping up the springs[c] outside the city, and they supported him. A large number of people gathered together and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the district.[d] They reasoned,[e] “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” Hezekiah[f] energetically rebuilt[g] every broken wall. He erected towers and an outer wall[h] and fortified the terrace of the City of David.[i] He made many weapons and shields.

He appointed military officers over the army[j] and assembled them in the square at the city gate. He encouraged them,[k] saying, “Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic[l] because of the king of Assyria and this huge army that is with him. We have with us one who is stronger than those who are with him.[m] He has with him mere human strength,[n] but the Lord our God is with us to help us and fight our battles!” The army[o] was encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

Afterward King Sennacherib of Assyria, while attacking Lachish with all his military might, sent his messengers[p] to Jerusalem. The message was for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of[q] Judah who were in Jerusalem. It read: 10 “This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘Why are you so confident that you remain in Jerusalem while it is under siege?[r] 11 Hezekiah says, “The Lord our God will rescue us from the power[s] of the king of Assyria.” But he is misleading you, and you will die of hunger and thirst![t] 12 Hezekiah is the one who eliminated[u] the Lord’s[v] high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.” 13 Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors[w] have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power?[x] 14 Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power, that your God would be able to rescue you from my power?[y] 15 Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how[z] can your gods rescue[aa] you from my power?’”

16 Sennacherib’s[ab] servants further insulted[ac] the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah. 17 He wrote letters mocking the Lord God of Israel and insulting him with these words:[ad] “The gods of the surrounding nations could not rescue their people from my power. Neither can Hezekiah’s god rescue his people from my power.”[ae] 18 They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city. 19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.

20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven. 21 The Lord sent a messenger[af] and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib[ag] returned home humiliated.[ah] When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons[ai] struck him down with the sword. 22 The Lord delivered Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from all the other nations.[aj] He made them secure on every side.[ak] 23 Many were bringing presents[al] to the Lord in Jerusalem and precious gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah. From that time on he was respected by[am] all the nations.

Hezekiah’s Shortcomings and Accomplishments

24 In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness.[an] He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a sign confirming that he would be healed.[ao] 25 But Hezekiah was ungrateful; he had a proud attitude, provoking God to be angry at him, as well as Judah and Jerusalem.[ap] 26 But then Hezekiah and the residents of Jerusalem humbled themselves and abandoned their pride, and the Lord was not angry with them for the rest of Hezekiah’s reign.[aq]

27 Hezekiah was very wealthy and greatly respected. He made storehouses for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all his other valuable possessions. 28 He made storerooms for the harvest of grain, wine, and olive oil, and stalls for all his various kinds of livestock and his flocks.[ar] 29 He built royal cities[as] and owned a large number of sheep and cattle, for God gave him a huge amount of possessions.

30 Hezekiah dammed up the source of the waters of the Upper Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the City of David.[at] Hezekiah succeeded in all that he did. 31 So when the envoys arrived from the Babylonian officials to visit him and inquire about the sign that occurred in the land,[au] God left him alone to test him, in order to know his true motives.[av]

32 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, including his faithful deeds, are recorded in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, included in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel.[aw] 33 Hezekiah passed away[ax] and was buried on the ascent of the tombs of the descendants of David. All the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem buried him with great honor.[ay] His son Manasseh replaced him as king.

Manasseh’s Reign

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of[az] the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations[ba] whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky[bb] and worshiped[bc] them. He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.”[bd] In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. He passed his sons through the fire[be] in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it.[bf] He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him.[bg] He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.[bh] I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors,[bi] provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given through Moses.” But Manasseh misled the people of[bj] Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

10 The Lord confronted[bk] Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose,[bl] bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 12 In his pain[bm] Manasseh[bn] asked the Lord his God for mercy[bo] and truly[bp] humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.[bq] 13 When he prayed to the Lord,[br] the Lord[bs] responded to him[bt] and answered favorably[bu] his cry for mercy. The Lord[bv] brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God.

14 After this Manasseh[bw] built up the outer wall of the City of David[bx] on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.

15 He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord’s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city. 16 He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of[by] Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 However, the people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

18 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets[bz] spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded[ca] in the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 19 The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself.[cb] 20 Manasseh passed away[cc] and was buried in his palace. His son Amon replaced him as king.

Amon’s Reign

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did evil in the sight of[cd] the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped[ce] them. 23 He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done.[cf] Amon was guilty of great sin.[cg] 24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace. 25 The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they[ch] made his son Josiah king in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 32:1 tn Heb “and he said to break into them for himself.”
  2. 2 Chronicles 32:2 tn Heb “and his face was for war against Jerusalem.”
  3. 2 Chronicles 32:3 tn Heb “the waters of the springs.”
  4. 2 Chronicles 32:4 tn Heb “and they closed up all the springs and the stream that flows in the midst of the land.” Here אָרֶץ (ʾarets, “land”) does not refer to the entire land, but to a smaller region like a district.
  5. 2 Chronicles 32:4 tn Heb “land, saying.”
  6. 2 Chronicles 32:5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hezekiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  7. 2 Chronicles 32:5 tn Heb “strengthened himself and built.”
  8. 2 Chronicles 32:5 tn Heb “and outside the wall another one.”
  9. 2 Chronicles 32:5 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  10. 2 Chronicles 32:6 tn Heb “and he placed officers of war over the people.”
  11. 2 Chronicles 32:6 tn Heb “he spoke to their heart[s].”
  12. 2 Chronicles 32:7 tn Or perhaps, “and don’t be discouraged.”
  13. 2 Chronicles 32:7 tn Heb “for with us [is] a greater [one] than with him.”
  14. 2 Chronicles 32:8 tn Heb “With him is an arm of flesh.”
  15. 2 Chronicles 32:8 tn Or “people.”
  16. 2 Chronicles 32:9 tn Heb “servants.”
  17. 2 Chronicles 32:9 tn Heb “all Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.
  18. 2 Chronicles 32:10 tn Heb “On what are you trusting that [you] are living during the siege in Jerusalem.”
  19. 2 Chronicles 32:11 tn Heb “hand.”
  20. 2 Chronicles 32:11 tn Heb “Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to die by hunger and thirst, saying, ‘The Lord our God will rescue us from the hand of the king of Assyria’?’
  21. 2 Chronicles 32:12 tn Heb “Did not he, Hezekiah, eliminate…?” This rhetorical question presupposes a positive reply (“yes, he did”) and so has been translated here as a positive statement.
  22. 2 Chronicles 32:12 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  23. 2 Chronicles 32:13 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 14, 15), but in this context the term does not necessarily refer to Sennacherib’s ancestors, but to his predecessors on the Assyrian throne.
  24. 2 Chronicles 32:13 tn Heb “hand.”
  25. 2 Chronicles 32:14 tn Heb “hand.”
  26. 2 Chronicles 32:15 tn Heb “how much less.”
  27. 2 Chronicles 32:15 tn The verb is plural, suggesting that the preceding אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (ʾelohekhem) be translated “your gods,” rather than “your God.”
  28. 2 Chronicles 32:16 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Sennacherib) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
  29. 2 Chronicles 32:16 tn Heb “spoke against.”
  30. 2 Chronicles 32:17 tn Heb “and speaking against him, saying.”
  31. 2 Chronicles 32:17 tn Heb “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.”
  32. 2 Chronicles 32:21 tn Or “an angel.”
  33. 2 Chronicles 32:21 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sennacherib) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  34. 2 Chronicles 32:21 tn Heb “and he returned with shame of face to his land.”
  35. 2 Chronicles 32:21 tn Heb “and some from those who went out from him, from his inward parts.”
  36. 2 Chronicles 32:22 tn Heb “and from the hand of all.”
  37. 2 Chronicles 32:22 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he led him from all around.” However, the present translation prefers the Septuagint and Vulgate reading, which suggests an original text of וַיָּנַח לָהֶם מִסָּבִיב (vayyanakh lahem missaviv, “and he gave rest to them from all around”). See 2 Chr 15:15 and 20:30.
  38. 2 Chronicles 32:23 tn Or perhaps, “offerings.”
  39. 2 Chronicles 32:23 tn Heb “lifted up in the eyes of.”
  40. 2 Chronicles 32:24 tn Heb “was sick to the point of dying.”
  41. 2 Chronicles 32:24 tn Heb “and he spoke to him and a sign he gave to him.”
  42. 2 Chronicles 32:25 tn Heb “but not according to the benefit [given] to him did Hezekiah repay, for his heart was high, and there was anger against him and against Judah and Jerusalem.”
  43. 2 Chronicles 32:26 tn Heb “and Hezekiah humbled himself in the height of his heart, he and the residents of Jerusalem, and the anger of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.”
  44. 2 Chronicles 32:28 tn Heb “and stalls for all beasts and beasts, and flocks for the stalls.” The repetition of בְּהֵמָה (behemah, “beast”) here indicates various kinds of livestock.
  45. 2 Chronicles 32:29 tn Heb “and cities he made for himself.”
  46. 2 Chronicles 32:30 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  47. 2 Chronicles 32:31 tn Heb “and when the envoys of the officials of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire concerning the sign which was in the land, [arrived].”
  48. 2 Chronicles 32:31 tn Heb “to know all [that was] in his heart.”
  49. 2 Chronicles 32:32 tn Heb “and the rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and his faithful acts, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet upon the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.”
  50. 2 Chronicles 32:33 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
  51. 2 Chronicles 32:33 tn Heb “and honor they did to him in his death, all Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.”
  52. 2 Chronicles 33:2 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
  53. 2 Chronicles 33:2 tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”
  54. 2 Chronicles 33:3 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הֲַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsevaʾ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
  55. 2 Chronicles 33:3 tn Or “served.”
  56. 2 Chronicles 33:4 tn Heb “In Jerusalem my name will be permanently.”
  57. 2 Chronicles 33:6 tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASB “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.
  58. 2 Chronicles 33:6 tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (ʾov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (baʿalat ʾov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ʾÔḆ,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.
  59. 2 Chronicles 33:6 tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”
  60. 2 Chronicles 33:7 tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name permanently” (or perhaps “forever”).
  61. 2 Chronicles 33:8 tn Heb “I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I established for their fathers.”
  62. 2 Chronicles 33:9 tn Heb “misled Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.
  63. 2 Chronicles 33:10 tn Heb “spoke to.”
  64. 2 Chronicles 33:11 tn Heb “and they seized him with hooks.”
  65. 2 Chronicles 33:12 tn Or “distress.”
  66. 2 Chronicles 33:12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  67. 2 Chronicles 33:12 tn Heb “appeased the face of the Lord his God.”
  68. 2 Chronicles 33:12 tn Or “greatly.”
  69. 2 Chronicles 33:12 tn Heb “fathers.”
  70. 2 Chronicles 33:13 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  71. 2 Chronicles 33:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  72. 2 Chronicles 33:13 tn Heb “was entreated by him,” or “allowed himself to be entreated by him.”
  73. 2 Chronicles 33:13 tn Heb “heard.”
  74. 2 Chronicles 33:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  75. 2 Chronicles 33:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  76. 2 Chronicles 33:14 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  77. 2 Chronicles 33:16 tn Heb “told Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.
  78. 2 Chronicles 33:18 tn Or “seers.”
  79. 2 Chronicles 33:18 tn Heb “look, they are.”
  80. 2 Chronicles 33:19 tn Heb “and his prayer and being entreated by him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness and the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself—behold, they are written on the words of his seers.”
  81. 2 Chronicles 33:20 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
  82. 2 Chronicles 33:22 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
  83. 2 Chronicles 33:22 tn Or “served.”
  84. 2 Chronicles 33:23 tn Heb “as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.”
  85. 2 Chronicles 33:23 tn Heb “for he, Amon, multiplied guilt.”
  86. 2 Chronicles 33:25 tn Heb “and the people of the land.”