Hezekiah Reigns in Judah^(A)

18 Now it came to pass in the third year of ^(B)Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that ^(C)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^(D)Abi^[a] the daughter of Zechariah. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

^4 (E)He removed the ^[b]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the ^[c]wooden image and broke in pieces the ^(F)bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it ^[d]Nehushtan. ⁵ He ^(G)trusted in the Lord God of Israel, ^(H)so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. ⁶ For he ^(I)held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord ^(J)was with him; he ^(K)prospered wherever he went. And he ^(L)rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. ^8 (M)He ^[e]subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(N)from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ Now ^(O)it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, ^(P)the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ^11 (Q)Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them ^(R)in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they ^(S)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

¹³ And ^(T)in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ So Hezekiah ^(U)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave ^[f]it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord^(V)

¹⁷ Then the king of Assyria sent the ^[g]Tartan, the ^[h]Rabsaris, and the ^[i]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the ^(W)aqueduct from the upper pool, ^(X)which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ¹⁸ And when they had called to the king, ^(Y)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the ^[j]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. ¹⁹ Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: ^(Z)“What confidence is this in which you trust? ²⁰ You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are ^[k]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? ^21 (AA)Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand 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 the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^(AB)whose ^[l]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’ ²³ Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! ²⁴ How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

^26 (AC)Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(AD)Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in ^[m]Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

²⁷ But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”

²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in ^[n]Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ^(AE)‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; ³⁰ nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me ^[o]by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own ^(AF)vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(AG)a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” ^33 (AH)Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of ^(AI)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and ^(AJ)Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, ^(AK)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

³⁶ But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(AL)with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Assures Deliverance^(AM)

19 And ^(AN)so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with ^(AO)sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to ^[p]bring them forth. ^4 (AP)It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(AQ)reproach the living God, and will ^(AR)rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ^6 (AS)And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be ^(AT)afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the ^(AU)servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Surely I will send ^(AV)a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer^(AW)

⁸ Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed ^(AX)from Lachish. ⁹ And ^(AY)the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war with you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God ^(AZ)in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? ^12 (BA)Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of ^(BB)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (BC)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”

^14 (BD)And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One ^(BE)who dwells between the cherubim, ^(BF)You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ^16 (BG)Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(BH)open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, ^(BI)which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were ^(BJ)not gods, but ^(BK)the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, ^(BL)that all the kingdoms of the earth may ^(BM)know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib^(BN)

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(BO)‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, ^(BP)I have heard.’ ²¹ This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ ‘This shall be a ^(CC)sign to you:

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death^(CJ)

³⁵ And ^(CK)it came to pass on a certain night that the ^[s]angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at ^(CL)Nineveh. ³⁷ Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons ^(CM)Adrammelech and Sharezer ^(CN)struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then ^(CO)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord^(A)

32 After ^(B)these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself. ² And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, ³ he consulted with his leaders and ^[a]commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴ Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the ^(C)springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, “Why should the ^[b]kings of Assyria come and find much water?” ⁵ And ^(D)he strengthened himself, ^(E)built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired ^[c]the ^(F)Millo in the City of David, and made ^[d]weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶ Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and ^(G)gave them encouragement, saying, ^7 (H)“Be strong and courageous; ^(I)do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for ^(J)there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is an ^(K)arm of flesh; but ^(L)with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

^9 (M)After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, ^10 (N)“Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: ‘In what do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹ Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, ^(O)“The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? ^12 (P)Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on ^(Q)it”? ¹³ Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? ^(R)Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand? ¹⁴ Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my ^(S)hand? ¹⁵ Now therefore, ^(T)do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’ ”

¹⁶ Furthermore, his servants spoke against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah.

¹⁷ He also wrote letters to revile the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, ^(U)“As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my ^(V)hand.” ^18 (W)Then they called out with a loud voice in ^[e]Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them, that they might take the city. ¹⁹ And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth—^(X)the work of men’s hands.

Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death^(Y)

^20 (Z)Now because of this King Hezekiah and ^(AA)the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven. ^21 (AB)Then the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned ^(AC)shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there.

²² Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and ^[f]guided them on every side. ²³ And many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem, and ^(AD)presents^[g] to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was ^(AE)exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.

Hezekiah Humbles Himself^(AF)

^24 (AG)In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign. ²⁵ But Hezekiah ^(AH)did not repay according to the favor shown him, for ^(AI)his heart was lifted up; ^(AJ)therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. ^26 (AK)Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them ^(AL)in the days of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah’s Wealth and Honor^(AM)

²⁷ Hezekiah had very great riches and honor. And he made himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of desirable items; ²⁸ storehouses for the harvest of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of livestock, and ^[h]folds for flocks. ²⁹ Moreover he provided cities for himself, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for ^(AN)God had given him very much property. ^30 (AO)This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and ^[i]brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah ^(AP)prospered in all his works.

³¹ However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they ^(AQ)sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to ^(AR)test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

Death of Hezekiah

³² Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, indeed they are written in ^(AS)the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the ^(AT)book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ^33 (AU)So Hezekiah ^[j]rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^(AV)honored him at his death. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

5 Come now, you ^(A)rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your ^(B)riches ^[a]are corrupted, and ^(C)your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ^(D)You have heaped up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Indeed ^(E)the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and ^(F)the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of ^[b]Sabaoth. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and ^[c]luxury; you have ^[d]fattened your hearts ^[e]as in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

Be Patient and Persevering

⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. ⁸ You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord ^[f]is at hand.

⁹ Do not ^[g]grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be ^[h]condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! ^10 (G)My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and ^(H)patience. ¹¹ Indeed ^(I)we count them blessed who ^(J)endure. You have heard of ^(K)the perseverance of Job and seen ^(L)the end intended by the Lord—that ^(M)the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

¹² But above all, my brethren, ^(N)do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into ^[i]judgment.

Meeting Specific Needs^(O)

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him ^(P)pray. Is anyone cheerful? ^(Q)Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^(R)anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. ^(S)And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ^16 [j]Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. ^(T)The effective, ^[k]fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man ^(U)with a nature like ours, and ^(V)he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ And he prayed ^(W)again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Bring Back the Erring One

¹⁹ Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone ^(X)turns him back, ²⁰ let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way ^(Y)will save ^[l]a soul from death and ^(Z)cover a multitude of sins.