Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so did Urijah the priest make
it against the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus.
016:012 When the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar:
and the king drew near to the altar, and offered thereon.
016:013 He burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured his
drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings,
on the altar.
016:014 The bronze altar, which was before Yahweh, he brought from
the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house
of Yahweh, and put it on the north side of his altar.
016:015 King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, On the great altar
burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal offering,
and the king's burnt offering, and his meal offering, with the burnt
offering of all the people of the land, and their meal offering,
and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood
of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice:
but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.
016:016 Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that
king Ahaz commanded.
016:017 King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin
from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen
that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.
016:018 The covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house,
and the king's entry outside, turned he to the house of Yahweh,
because of the king of Assyria.
016:019 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, aren't they
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
016:020 Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers
in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
017:001 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son
of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years.
017:002 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not
as the kings of Israel who were before him.
017:003 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea
became his servant, and brought him tribute.
017:004 The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had
sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute
to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year:
therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound
him in prison.
017:005 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land,
and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
017:006 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria,
and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah,
and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities
of the Medes.
017:007 It was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against
Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land
of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and had feared other gods,
017:008 and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out
from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel,
which they made.
017:009 The children of Israel did secretly things that were not
right against Yahweh their God: and they built them high
places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen
to the fortified city;
017:010 and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill,
and under every green tree;
017:011 and there they burnt incense in all the high places,
as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them;
and they worked wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger;
017:012 and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them,
You shall not do this thing.
017:013 Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet,
and every seer, saying, Turn you from your evil ways,
and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all
the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent
to you by my servants the prophets.
017:014 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck,
like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in
Yahweh their God.
017:015 They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with
their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them;
and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after
the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh
had charged those who they should not do like them.
017:016 They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made
them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah,
and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
017:017 They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through
the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold
themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh,
to provoke him to anger.
017:018 Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed
them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe
of Judah only.
017:019 Also Judah didn't keep the commandments of Yahweh their God,
but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
017:020 Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them,
and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had
cast them out of his sight.
017:021 For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made
Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel
from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.
017:022 The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam
which he did; they didn't depart from them;
017:023 until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke
by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away
out of their own land to Assyria to this day.
017:024 The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah,
and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them
in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel;
and they possessed Samaria, and lived in the cities of it.
017:025 So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they
didn't fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them,
which killed some of them.
017:026 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations
which you have carried away, and placed in the cities
of Samaria, don't know the law of the god of the land:
therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them,
because they don't know the law of the god of the land.
017:027 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one
of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go
and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god
of the land.
017:028 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from
Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they
should fear Yahweh.
017:029 However every nation made gods of their own, and put them
in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made,
every nation in their cities in which they lived.
017:030 The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth
made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
017:031 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites
burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech,
the gods of Sepharvaim.
017:032 So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves
priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses
of the high places.
017:033 They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the manner
of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
017:034 To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear Yahweh,
neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances,
or after the law or after the commandment which Yahweh
commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
017:035 with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and charged them, saying,
You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them,
nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
017:036 but Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall
you fear, and to him shall you bow yourselves, and to him
shall you sacrifice:
017:037 and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment,
which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore;
and you shall not fear other gods:
017:038 and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget;
neither shall you fear other gods:
017:039 but Yahweh your God shall you fear; and he will deliver you
out of the hand of all your enemies.
017:040 However they did not listen, but they did after their former manner.
017:041 So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved images;
their children likewise, and their children's children,
as did their fathers, so do they to this day.
018:001 Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king
of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah
began to reign.
018:002 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem:
and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
018:003 He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to
all that David his father had done.
018:004 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut
down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent
that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel
did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
018:005 He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him
was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among
them] that were before him.
018:006 For he joined with Yahweh; he didn't depart from following him,
but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.
018:007 Yahweh was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered:
and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and didn't serve him.
018:008 He struck the Philistines to Gaza and the borders of it,
from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
018:009 It happened in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was
the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel,
that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria,
and besieged it.
018:010 At the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year
of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king
of Israel, Samaria was taken.
018:011 The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria,
and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan,
and in the cities of the Medes,
018:012 because they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh their God,
but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant
of Yahweh commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.
018:013 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king
of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah,
and took them.
018:014 Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria
to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me:
that which you put on me will I bear. The king of Assyria
appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents
of silver and thirty talents of gold.
018:015 Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house
of Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house.
018:016 At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors
of the temple of Yahweh, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah
king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
018:017 The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh
from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem.
They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they were come up,
they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool,
which is in the highway of the fuller's field.
018:018 When they had called to the king, there came out to them
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household,
and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
018:019 Rabshakeh said to them, Say you now to Hezekiah, Thus says
the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this
in which you trust?
018:020 You say (but they are but vain words), [There is] counsel
and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust,
that you have rebelled against me?
018:021 Now, behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed,
even on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand,
and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who
trust on him.
018:022 But if you tell me, We trust in Yahweh our God; isn't that
he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away,
and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship
before this altar in Jerusalem?
018:023 Now therefore, Please give pledges to my master the king
of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you
are able on your part to set riders on them.
018:024 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least
of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots
and for horsemen?
018:025 Am I now come up without Yahweh against this place to destroy it?
Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
018:026 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah,
to Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language;
for we understand it: and don't speak with us in the Jews'
language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.
018:027 But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master,
and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men
who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink
their own water with you?
018:028 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and spoke, saying, Hear you the word of the great king,
the king of Assyria.
018:029 Thus says the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you;
for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
018:030 neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh will
surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into
the hand of the king of Assyria.
018:031 Don't listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king
of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me;
and eat you everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree,
and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern;
018:032 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards,
a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die:
and don't listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying,
Yahweh will deliver us.
018:033 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land
out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
018:034 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods
of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? have they delivered Samaria
out of my hand?
018:035 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have
delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
018:036 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word;
for the king's commandment was, saying, Don't answer him.
018:037 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household,
and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder,
to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the
words of Rabshakeh.
019:001 It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore
his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went
into the house of Yahweh.
019:002 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe,
and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth,
to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
019:003 They said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble,
and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children are come
to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
019:004 It may be Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh,
whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God,
and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard.
Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
019:005 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
019:006 Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you tell your master,
Thus says Yahweh, Don't be afraid of the words that you
have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria
have blasphemed me.
019:007 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear news,
and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall
by the sword in his own land.
019:008 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring
against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
019:009 When he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is
come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again
to Hezekiah, saying,
019:010 Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Don't let
your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall
not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
019:011 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly:
and shall you be delivered?
019:012 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers
have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children
of Eden that were in Telassar?
019:013 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king
of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?
019:014 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers,
and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh,
and spread it before Yahweh.
019:015 Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, Yahweh, the God
of Israel, who sit [above] the cherubim, you are the God,
even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have
made heaven and earth.
019:016 Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, Yahweh, and see;
and hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent
him to defy the living God.
019:017 Of a truth, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste
the nations and their lands,
019:018 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
have destroyed them.
019:019 Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save you us, I beg you,
out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that you Yahweh are God alone.
019:020 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus
says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Whereas you have prayed to me
against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard [you].
019:021 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:
The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you;
the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
019:022 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? and against whom have you
exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? [even]
against the Holy One of Israel.
019:023 By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said,
With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height
of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon;
and I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir
trees of it; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place,
the forest of his fruitful field.
019:024 I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my
feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
019:025 Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it
of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should
be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
019:026 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were
dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field,
and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops,
and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
019:027 But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your
coming in, and your raging against me.
019:028 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance is
come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose,
and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way
by which you came.
019:029 This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year
that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which
springs of the same; and in the third year sow you, and reap,
and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it.
019:030 The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again
take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
019:031 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out
of Mount Zion those who shall escape: the zeal of Yahweh
shall perform this.
019:032 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He shall
not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall
he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.
019:033 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,
and he shall not come to this city, says Yahweh.
019:034 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake,
and for my servant David's sake.
019:035 It happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went forth,
and struck in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred
eighty-five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning,
behold, these were all dead bodies.
019:036 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned,
and lived at Nineveh.
019:037 It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god,
that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword:
and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son
reigned in his place.
020:001 In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the
prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him,
Thus says Yahweh, Set your house in order: for you shall die,
and not live.
020:002 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying,
020:003 Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you
in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is
good in your sight. Hezekiah wept sore.
020:004 It happened, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle part
of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,
020:005 Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people,
Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, I have heard
your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will heal you;
on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh.
020:006 I will add to your days fifteen years; and I will deliver
you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria;
and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my
servant David's sake.
020:007 Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. They took and laid it
on the boil, and he recovered.
020:008 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that Yahweh
will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh
the third day?
020:009 Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh,
that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken:
shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?
020:010 Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to decline
ten steps: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.
020:011 Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten
steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.
020:012 At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon,
sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard
that Hezekiah had been sick.
020:013 Hezekiah listened to them, and shown them all the house of his
precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices,
and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that
was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house,
nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them.
020:014 Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah, and said to him,
What said these men? and from whence came they to you?
Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country,
even from Babylon.
020:015 He said, What have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered,
All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing
among my treasures that I have not shown them.
020:016 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh.
020:017 Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house,
and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day,
shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, says Yahweh.
020:018 Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father,
shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace
of the king of Babylon.
020:019 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of Yahweh
which you have spoken. He said moreover, Isn't it so,
if peace and truth shall be in my days?
020:020 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might,
and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water
into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles