² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet ^(A)Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^(B)day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; ^(C)children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ^4 (D)It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(E)the remnant that is left.’”

⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Behold, ^(F)I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(G)he shall hear a rumour and return to his own land, and ^(H)I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(I)Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left ^(J)Lachish. ⁹ Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of ^(K)Cush,^[a] “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ^(L)‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (M)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(N)Gozan, ^(O)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (P)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance

¹⁴ 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 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, ^(Q)enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ^(R)you have made heaven and earth. ^17 (S)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear ^(T)all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, ^(U)the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Sennacherib's Fall

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

³⁰ “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah ^(AE)shall again take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. ^32 (AF)For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. ^(AG)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or ^(AH)cast up a siege mound against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^35 (AI)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for ^(AJ)the sake of my servant David.”

^36 (AK)And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at ^(AL)Nineveh. ³⁸ And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of ^(AM)Ararat, ^(AN)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery

38 ^(AO)In those days Hezekiah became ^(AP)sick and was at the point of death. And ^(AQ)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”^{[c] 2} Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how ^(AR)I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add ^(AS)fifteen years to your life.^{[d] 6 (AT)}I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

⁷ “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: ^8 (AU)Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.^[e]

⁹ A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

^21 (BQ)Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” ²² Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”

Envoys from Babylon

39 ^(BR)At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(BS)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. ² And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, ^(BT)the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armoury, all that was found in his storehouses. ^(BU)There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ³ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” ⁴ He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

⁵ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: ^6 (BV)Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ^7 (BW)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ⁸ Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, ^(BX)“There will be peace and security in my days.”

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18 ^(A)In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(B)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was ^(C)twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(D)Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ^3 (E)And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ^4 (F)He removed the high places and broke the ^(G)pillars and cut down ^(H)the Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^(I)the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).^{[a] 5 (J)}He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(K)so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. ^6 (L)For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. ^7 (M)And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, ^(N)he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ^8 (O)He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(P)from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹ In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(Q)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, ¹⁰ and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹ The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in ^(R)Halah, and on the ^(S)Habor, ^(T)the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹² because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

^13 (U)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴ And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” ^(V)And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[b] of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah ^(W)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 doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent the ^(X)Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by ^(Y)the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. ¹⁸ And when they called for the king, there came out to them ^(Z)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(AA)Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹ And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ²⁰ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of ^(AB)a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such 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 ^(AC)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? ²³ Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ²⁴ How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”

²⁶ Then ^(AD)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and ^(AE)Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(AF)Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷ But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my^[c] hand. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will 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 your peace with me^[d] and come out to me. Then ^(AG)each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(AH)a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and ^(AI)honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. ^33 (AJ)Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ^34 (AK)Where are the gods of ^(AL)Hamath and ^(AM)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^(AN)Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, ^(AO)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

³⁶ But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then ^(AP)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(AQ)with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19 ^(AR)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, ^(AS)he tore his clothes and ^(AT)covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, ^(AU)covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ^4 (AV)It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^(AW)to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(AX)the remnant that is left.” ⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which ^(AY)the servants of the king of Assyria have ^(AZ)reviled me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(BA)he shall hear a rumour and return to his own land, and I will make him ^(BB)fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(BC)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left ^(BD)Lachish. ^9 (BE)Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God ^(BF)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that ^(BG)Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (BH)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(BI)Gozan, ^(BJ)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of ^(BK)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (BL)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received ^(BM)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 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(BN)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(BO)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ^16 (BP)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(BQ)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(BR)to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O 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 not gods, ^(BS)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(BT)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(BU)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria ^(BV)I have heard. ²¹ This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

²⁹ “And this shall be ^(CM)the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ^30 (CN)And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. ³¹ For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion ^(CO)a band of survivors. ^(CP)The zeal of the Lord will do this.

³² “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or ^(CQ)cast up a siege mound against it. ^33 (CR)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ^34 (CS)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake ^(CT)and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵ And that night ^(CU)the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at ^(CV)Nineveh. ³⁷ And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(CW)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20 ^(CX)In those days ^(CY)Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(CZ)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Now, O Lord, ^(DA)please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and ^(DB)with a whole heart, ^(DC)and have done what is good in your sight.” ^(DD)And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah ^(DE)the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(DF)I have heard your prayer; ^(DG)I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, ⁶ and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, ^(DH)and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” ⁷ And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “This shall be ^(DI)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow ^(DJ)to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, ^(DK)and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

^12 (DL)At that time ^(DM)Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(DN)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them ^(DO)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armoury, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ Behold, the days are coming, when ^(DP)all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ^18 (DQ)And some of your own sons, who shall be born to you, shall be taken away, ^(DR)and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹ Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, ^(DS)“The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

^20 (DT)The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made ^(DU)the pool and the conduit ^(DV)and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^21 (DW)And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

29 ^(A)Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah^[a] the daughter of ^(B)Zechariah. ² And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

³ In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he ^(C)opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. ⁴ He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east ⁵ and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now ^(D)consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. ⁶ For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and ^(E)have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. ⁷ They also ^(F)shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. ⁸ Therefore ^(G)the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them ^(H)an object of horror, of astonishment, ^(I)and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. ⁹ For behold, ^(J)our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰ Now ^(K)it is in my heart ^(L)to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, do not now be negligent, ^(M)for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”

¹² Then the Levites arose, ^(N)Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of ^(O)the Kohathites; and of the sons of ^(P)Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the ^(Q)Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; ¹³ and of the sons of ^(R)Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of ^(S)Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; ¹⁴ and of the sons of ^(T)Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of ^(U)Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵ They gathered their brothers and ^(V)consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, ^(W)by the words of the Lord, ^(X)to cleanse the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it and carried it out to ^(Y)the brook Kidron. ¹⁷ They began to consecrate ^(Z)on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. ¹⁸ Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils. ¹⁹ All the utensils ^(AA)that King Ahaz discarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”

Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship

²⁰ Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. ²¹ And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats ^(AB)for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood ^(AC)and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. ²³ Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, ^(AD)and they laid their hands on them, ²⁴ and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, ^(AE)to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

^25 (AF)And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, ^(AG)according to the commandment of David and of Gad ^(AH)the king's seer and of ^(AI)Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. ²⁶ The Levites stood with ^(AJ)the instruments of David, ^(AK)and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, ^(AL)the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸ The whole assembly worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹ When the offering was finished, ^(AM)the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. ³⁰ And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshipped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, ^(AN)“You have now consecrated yourselves to^[b] the Lord. Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were ^(AO)of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. ³² The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. ³³ And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. ³⁴ But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, ^(AP)their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—^(AQ)for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. ³⁵ Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was ^(AR)the fat of the peace offerings, and there were ^(AS)the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. ³⁶ And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had prepared for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.

Passover Celebrated

30 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. ² For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover ^(AT)in the second month— ³ for they could not keep it ^(AU)at that time ^(AV)because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— ⁴ and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. ⁵ So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, ^(AW)from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. ^6 (AX)So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, ^(AY)return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of ^(AZ)the kings of Assyria. ^7 (BA)Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. ^8 (BB)Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated for ever, and serve the Lord your God, ^(BC)that his fierce anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For ^(BD)if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children ^(BE)will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For ^(BF)the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, ^(BG)if you return to him.”

^10 (BH)So the couriers went from city to city through the country of ^(BI)Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but ^(BJ)they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. ¹¹ However, ^(BK)some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded ^(BL)by the word of the Lord.

¹³ And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^(BM)in the second month, a very great assembly. ¹⁴ They set to work and removed ^(BN)the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away ^(BO)and threw into the Kidron Valley. ^15 (BP)And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. ^(BQ)And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, ^(BR)so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. ^16 (BS)They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses ^(BT)the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the Lord. ¹⁸ For a majority of the people, ^(BU)many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise ^(BV)than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone ^19 (BW)who sets his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness.”^{[c] 20} And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. ²¹ And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept ^(BX)the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might^[d] to the Lord. ²² And Hezekiah spoke ^(BY)encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the Lord. So they ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing ^(BZ)peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast ^(CA)for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness. ²⁴ For Hezekiah king of Judah ^(CB)gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for offerings, and the princes gave the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. And the priests ^(CC)consecrated themselves in great numbers. ²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, ^(CD)and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for ^(CE)since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. ²⁷ Then ^(CF)the priests and the Levites arose and ^(CG)blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to ^(CH)his holy habitation in heaven.

Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and ^(CI)broke in pieces the ^(CJ)pillars and cut down ^(CK)the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession.

² And Hezekiah appointed ^(CL)the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, ^(CM)for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise. ^3 (CN)The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed feasts, ^(CO)as it is written in the Law of the Lord. ⁴ And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give ^(CP)the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the Lord. ⁵ As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly ^(CQ)the tithe of everything. ⁶ And the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and ^(CR)the tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps. ⁷ In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. ⁹ And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰ Azariah the chief priest, who was ^(CS)of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and had enough and have plenty left, ^(CT)for the Lord has blessed his people, so that we have this large amount left.”

¹¹ Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare ^(CU)chambers in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. ¹² And they faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the dedicated things. The chief officer ^(CV)in charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, with ^(CW)Shimei his brother as second, ^13 (CX)while Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, ^(CY)Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and ^(CZ)Azariah the chief officer of the house of God. ¹⁴ And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the Lord and the most holy offerings. ^15 (DA)Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in ^(DB)the cities of the priests, to distribute the portions to their brothers, old and young alike, by divisions, ¹⁶ except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and upwards—all who entered the house of the Lord ^(DC)as the duty of each day required—for their service according to their offices, by their divisions. ¹⁷ The enrolment of the priests was according to their fathers' houses; that of the Levites ^(DD)from twenty years old and upwards was according to their offices, by their divisions. ¹⁸ They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole assembly, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. ¹⁹ And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of common land belonging to their cities, there were men in the several cities who were ^(DE)designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled.

²⁰ Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, ^(DF)and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. ²¹ And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

32 ^(DG)After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. ² And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, ³ he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. ⁴ A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and ^(DH)the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?”