Holman Christian Standard Bible (139 page)

20
 Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the
Lord
his God. 
21
 He was diligent in every deed that he began in the service of God's temple, in the instruction and the commands, in order to seek his God, and he prospered.

2 Chronicles

Sennacherib's Invasion

32
After these faithful deeds, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities and intended to break into them. 
2
 Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he planned war on Jerusalem,
3
 so he consulted with his officials and his warriors about stopping up the waters of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him.
4
 Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land; they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water? ”
5
 Then Hezekiah strengthened his position by rebuilding the entire broken-down wall and heightening the towers and the other outside wall. He repaired the supporting terraces of the city of David, and made an abundance of weapons and shields.

6
 He set military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying,
7
 “Be strong and courageous! Don't be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria or before the large army that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. 
8
 He has only human strength, but we have
•Yahweh
our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people relied on the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

Sennacherib's Servant's Speech

9
 After this, while Sennacherib king of Assyria with all his armed forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem against King Hezekiah of Judah and against all those of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying,
10
 “This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you relying on that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?
11
 Isn't Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, “Yahweh our God will deliver us from the power of the king of Assyria”?
12
 Didn't Hezekiah himself remove His
•high
places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

13
 “ ‘Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have any of the national gods of the lands been able to deliver their land from my power?
14
 Who among all the gods of these nations that my predecessors
•completely
destroyed was able to deliver his people from my power, that your God should be able to do the same for you? 
15
 So now, don't let Hezekiah deceive you, and don't let him mislead you like this. Don't believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my power or the power of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my power! ' ”

16
 His servants said more against the
Lord
God and against His servant Hezekiah.
17
 He also wrote letters to mock Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying against Him:

18
 Then they called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem, who were on the wall, to frighten and discourage them in order that he might capture the city.
19
 They spoke against the God of Jerusalem like they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth, which were made by human hands.

Deliverance from Sennacherib

20
 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven, 
21
 and the
Lord
sent an angel who annihilated every brave warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword. 

22
 So the
Lord
saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the power of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from the power of all others. He gave them rest on every side.
23
 Many were bringing an offering to the
Lord
to Jerusalem and valuable gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah, and he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after that. 

Hezekiah's Illness and Pride

24
 In those days Hezekiah became sick to the point of death, so he prayed to the
Lord
, and He spoke to him and gave him a miraculous sign. 
25
 However, because his heart was proud, Hezekiah didn't respond according to the benefit that had come to him. So there was wrath on him, Judah, and Jerusalem. 
26
 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart — he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — so the
Lord
's wrath didn't come on them during Hezekiah's lifetime. 

Hezekiah's Wealth and Works

27
 Hezekiah had abundant riches and glory, and he made himself treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and every desirable item.
28
 He made warehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil, and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and pens for flocks.
29
 He made cities for himself, and he acquired herds of sheep and cattle in abundance, for God gave him abundant possessions.

30
 This same Hezekiah blocked the outlet of the water of the Upper Gihon and channeled it smoothly downward and westward to the city of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did.
31
 When the ambassadors of Babylon's rulers were sent to him to inquire about the miraculous sign that happened in the land, God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart. 

Hezekiah's Death

32
 As for the rest of the events of Hezekiah's reign and his deeds of faithful love, note that they are written in the Visions of the Prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 
33
 Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried on the ascent to the tombs of David's descendants. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh became king in his place.

2 Chronicles

Judah's King Manasseh

33
Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king and reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.
2
 He did what was evil in the
Lord
's sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the
Lord
had dispossessed before the Israelites. 
3
 He rebuilt the
•high
places that his father Hezekiah had torn down and reestablished the altars for the
•Baals
. He made
•Asherah
poles, and he worshiped the whole heavenly
•host
and served them.
4
 He built altars in the
Lord
's temple, where
•Yahweh
had said, “Jerusalem is where My name will remain forever.” 
5
 He built altars to the whole heavenly host in both courtyards of the
Lord
's temple.
6
 He passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced witchcraft,
•divination
, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a great deal of evil in the
Lord
's sight, provoking Him.

7
 Manasseh set up a carved image of the idol he had made, in God's temple, about which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 
8
 I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses — all the law, statutes, and judgments.”
9
 So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the
Lord
had destroyed before the Israelites.

Manasseh's Repentance

10
 The
Lord
spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn't listen. 
11
 So He brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. 
12
 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of Yahweh his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.
13
 He prayed to Him, so He heard his petition and granted his request, and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that Yahweh is God. 

14
 After this, he built the outer wall of the city of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate; he brought it around the Ophel, and he heightened it considerably. He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15
 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the
Lord
's temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the
Lord
's temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.
16
 He built the altar of the
Lord
and offered
•fellowship
and thank offerings on it. Then he told Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel.
17
 However, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.

Manasseh's Death

18
 The rest of the events of Manasseh's reign, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, are written in the Records of Israel's Kings.
19
 His prayer and how God granted his request, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the Records of Hozai.
20
 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in his own house. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah's King Amon

21
 Amon was 22 years old when he became king and reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22
 He did what was evil in the
Lord
's sight just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.
23
 But he did not humble himself before the
Lord
like his father Manasseh humbled himself; instead, Amon increased his
•guilt
.

24
 So his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.
25
 Then the common people executed all those who conspired against King Amon and made his son Josiah king in his place.

2 Chronicles

Judah's King Josiah

34
Josiah was eight years old when he became king and reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.
2
 He did what was right in the
Lord
's sight and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or the left.

Josiah's Reform

3
 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the
•high
places, the
•Asherah
poles, the carved images, and the cast images.
4
 Then in his presence the altars of the
•Baals
were torn down, and he chopped down the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 
5
 He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. So he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6
 He did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and on their surrounding mountain shrines. 
7
 He tore down the altars, and he smashed the Asherah poles and the carved images to powder. He chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel and returned to Jerusalem. 

Josiah's Repair of the Temple

8
 In the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, along with Maaseiah the governor of the city and the court historian Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the temple of the
Lord
his God.

9
 So they went to Hilkiah the high priest, and gave him the money brought into God's temple. The Levites and the doorkeepers had collected money from Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the entire remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10
 They put it into the hands of those doing the work — those who oversaw the
Lord
's temple. They gave it to the workmen who were working in the
Lord
's temple, to repair and restore the temple;
11
 they gave it to the carpenters and builders and also used it to buy quarried stone and timbers — for joining and making beams — for the buildings that Judah's kings had destroyed.

12
 The men were doing the work with integrity. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites as supervisors. The Levites were all skilled with musical instruments. 
13
 They were also over the porters and were supervising all those doing the work task by task. Some of the Levites were secretaries, officers, and gatekeepers.