Sennacherib Speaks against the Lord

32 After these faithful acts, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to fight against Judah. His army gathered around the strong cities. He thought he would take them for himself. ² When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to fight against Jerusalem, ³ he planned with his captains and men of war to stop the water from the wells which were outside the city. And they helped him. ⁴ Many people were gathered, and they stopped all the wells and the small river which flowed through the land. They said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” ⁵ Then Hezekiah took strength of heart and built again all of the wall that had been broken down. He built towers on it, and built another outside wall. He made the Millo strong in the city of David. And he made many battle-coverings and objects to fight with. ⁶ He chose army captains to lead the people, and gathered them in the place by the city gate. He spoke comforting words to them, saying, ⁷ “Be strong and have strength of heart. Do not be afraid or troubled because of the king of Assyria and all those who are with him. For the One with us is greater than the one with him. ⁸ He has only man with him. But we have the Lord our God with us, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people trusted the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

⁹ Then King Sennacherib of Assyria, whose army was gathered around Lachish with him, sent word by his servants to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem. He said, ¹⁰ “King Sennacherib of Assyria says, ‘On what do you trust, that you are staying in Jerusalem with my army around you? ¹¹ Is not Hezekiah leading you the wrong way to let you die by hunger and thirst, saying, “The Lord our God will save us from the king of Assyria”? ¹² Has not this same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “You will worship in front of one altar and burn special perfume on it”? ¹³ Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the other nations able to save their lands from me? ¹⁴ Who among all the gods could save his people from me in all those nations which my fathers destroyed? Would your God be able to save you from me? ¹⁵ So now do not let Hezekiah lie to you or lead you in the wrong way like this. Do not believe him. For no god of any nation was able to save his people from me or from my fathers. How much less will your God save you from me!’”

¹⁶ Sennacherib’s men said still more against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷ The Assyrian king also wrote letters to say things against the Lord God of Israel, saying, “As the gods of the other nations of the lands have not saved their people from me, so the God of Hezekiah will not save His people from me.” ¹⁸ They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall. They did this to bring fear upon them, so that they might take the city. ¹⁹ They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if He were one of the gods of the people of the earth, which were made by the hands of men.

²⁰ But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the man of God, the son of Amoz, prayed about this and cried out to heaven. ²¹ And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed every powerful soldier and every captain and leader in the camp of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib returned in shame to his own land. And when he had gone into the house of his god, some of his own children killed him there with the sword. ²² So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from King Sennacherib of Assyria, and from all others. And He gave them rest on every side. ²³ Many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem, and things of much worth to King Hezekiah of Judah. So the king was honored in the eyes of all nations from that time on.

Hezekiah’s Pride

²⁴ In those days Hezekiah became very sick. He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him something special to see. ²⁵ But Hezekiah did not do anything in return for the good he received, because his heart was proud. So the Lord’s anger came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ Then Hezekiah put away the pride of his heart, both he and the people of Jerusalem. So that the anger of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah’s Riches

²⁷ Now Hezekiah had very great riches and honor. He made for himself store-houses for silver, gold, stones of much worth, spices, battle-coverings, and all kinds of things of much worth. ²⁸ He made store-houses for the grain that was gathered, wine, and oil. He made places for all kinds of herds, and places for the flocks. ²⁹ He made cities for himself, and gathered very many flocks and cattle. For God had given him very many riches. ³⁰ It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper opening of the waters of Gihon, and made them flow to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah did well in all that he did. ³¹ It was so even when the men were sent to him from the rulers of Babylon to ask about the wonder that had happened in the land. God left Hezekiah alone to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

The End of Hezekiah’s Rule

³² Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good works are written in the special dream of Isaiah the man of God, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³ Hezekiah died and they buried him in the upper graves of the sons of David. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.

Manasseh Rules Judah

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. And he ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was bad in the eyes of the Lord. He did the hated things of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the sons of Israel. ³ For he built again the high places which his father Hezekiah had broken down. He built altars for the false gods of Baal and made objects of worship for the false goddess Asherah. He worshiped all the stars of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built altars in the Lord’s house, of which the Lord had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ He built altars for all the stars of heaven in the two open spaces of the house of the Lord. ⁶ And he burned his sons as a gift in the valley of Ben-hinnom. He did witchcraft and asked the demon world about the future. He asked the demon world to do very special things, and he talked with people who spoke with the spirits of the dead. He did what was very bad in the eyes of the Lord, and made Him angry. ⁷ Manasseh made an object to look like a false god, and put it in God’s house, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the families of Israel, I will put My name forever. ⁸ And I will never again take Israel out of the land which I have chosen for your fathers, if only they will obey all that I have told them in the Laws given through Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to do more sinful things than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Manasseh Turns from His Sin

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. ¹¹ So the Lord brought the captains of the army of the king of Assyria against them. And they took Manasseh with hooks and tied him with brass chains and brought him to Babylon. ¹² When Manasseh was in trouble, he prayed to the Lord his God, and put away his pride before the God of his fathers. ¹³ When he prayed to Him, God heard his prayer and listened to him, and brought him again to Jerusalem and to his nation. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ After this he built the outside wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the Fish Gate. He built it around the Ophel, and made it very high. Then he put army captains in all the strong cities of Judah. ¹⁵ He took away the strange gods and the false god from the house of the Lord. And he took away all the altars he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s house and in Jerusalem, and threw them outside the city. ¹⁶ He set up the altar of the Lord and gave peace gifts and thank gifts in worship on it. And he told Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁷ But the people still killed animals in worship at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

The End of Manasseh’s Rule

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words the men who spoke for God spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are among the writings of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ His prayer and how God heard his prayer, and of all his sin and how he was not faithful, are found in the writings of the men who spoke for God. Also it is written where he built the high places, and made the objects of the false goddess Asherah, and made objects to look like gods, before he put away his pride. ²⁰ So Manasseh died and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and ruled for two years in Jerusalem. ²² Amon did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. He killed animals in worship to all the false gods his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. ²³ He did not put away his pride before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done, but Amon added to his guilt. ²⁴ His servants made plans against him, and killed him in his own house. ²⁵ But the people of the land killed all those who had killed King Amon and made his son Josiah king in his place.