Vote With Vision: Praying God’s Will Over Elections

Daily Reading Plan With Christian Mael (December)

Our Father

El-Roi the God Who Sees Me

Thankful Through the Struggle

5 Spiritual Practices for Healing and Transformation

Moving Toward Each Other in the Middle of a Divisive World

Giving Thanks in Every Season

Embracing Wonder: A 5-Week Advent Devotional From Matthew West

Advent Guide: You Belong

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2KI">
 <div class="chapter ch17" data-usfm="2KI.17">
 <div class="label">17</div><div class="s1">Hoshea Last King of Israel</div><div class="p"> 1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. 2He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.</div><div class="p"> 3Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser&#8217;s vassal and had paid him tribute. 4But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So#17:4 So is probably an abbreviation for Osorkon. king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison. 5The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.</div><div class="s1">Israel Exiled Because of Sin</div><div class="p"> 7All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods 8and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. 9The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. 10They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 11At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord&#8217;s anger. 12They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, &#8220;You shall not do this.&#8221;#17:12 Exodus 20:4,5 13The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: &#8220;Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, &#8220;Do not do as they do.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.</div><div class="p"> 18So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, 19and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. 20Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.</div><div class="p"> 21When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin. 22The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them 23until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.</div><div class="s1">Samaria Resettled</div><div class="p"> 24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. 25When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. 26It was reported to the king of Assyria: &#8220;The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27Then the king of Assyria gave this order: &#8220;Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.&#8221; 28So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 29Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. 30The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, those from Kuthah made Nergal, and those from Hamath made Ashima; 31the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. 33They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.</div><div class="p"> 34To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: &#8220;Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. 36But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. 37You must always be careful to keep the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. 38Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. 41Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2KI">
 <div class="chapter ch18" data-usfm="2KI.18">
 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">Hezekiah King of Judah</div><div class="p"> 1In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother&#8217;s name was Abijah#18:2 Hebrew Abi, a variant of Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 4He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.#18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and snake.)</div><div class="p"> 5Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.</div><div class="p"> 9In King Hezekiah&#8217;s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 10At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah&#8217;s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. 11The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes. 12This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant&#8212;all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.</div><div class="p"> 13In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah&#8217;s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: &#8220;I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.&#8221; The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents#18:14 That is, about 11 tons or about 10 metric tons of silver and thirty talents#18:14 That is, about 1 ton or about 1 metric ton of gold. 15So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.</div><div class="p"> 16At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.</div><div class="s1">Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem</div><div class="p"> 17The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman&#8217;s Field. 18They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.</div><div class="p"> 19The field commander said to them, &#8220;Tell Hezekiah:</div><div class="pm">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20You say you have the counsel and the might for war&#8212;but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 21Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22But if you say to me, &#8220;We are depending on the Lord our God&#8221;&#8212;isn&#8217;t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, &#8220;You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem&#8221;?</div><div class="pm"> 23&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses&#8212;if you can put riders on them! 24How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master&#8217;s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen#18:24 Or charioteers? 25Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, &#8220;Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don&#8217;t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27But the commander replied, &#8220;Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall&#8212;who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 28Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, &#8220;Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. 30Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, &#8216;The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 31&#8220;Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 32until I come and take you to a land like your own&#8212;a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!</div><div class="p">&#8220;Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, &#8216;The Lord will deliver us.&#8217; 33Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, &#8220;Do not answer him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2KI">
 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="2KI.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Jerusalem&#8217;s Deliverance Foretold</div><div class="p"> 1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. 2He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They told him, &#8220;This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5When King Hezekiah&#8217;s officials came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, &#8220;Tell your master, &#8216;This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard&#8212;those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.</div><div class="p"> 9Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,#19:9 That is, the upper Nile region was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10&#8220;Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, &#8216;Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.&#8217; 11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them&#8212;the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Hezekiah&#8217;s Prayer</div><div class="p"> 14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: &#8220;Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib&#8217;s Fall</div><div class="p"> 20Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: &#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. 21This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Virgin Daughter Zion</div><div class="q2">despises you and mocks you.</div><div class="q1">Daughter Jerusalem</div><div class="q2">tosses her head as you flee.</div><div class="q1"> 22Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?</div><div class="q2">Against whom have you raised your voice</div><div class="q1">and lifted your eyes in pride?</div><div class="q2">Against the Holy One of Israel!</div><div class="q1"> 23By your messengers</div><div class="q2">you have ridiculed the Lord.</div><div class="q1">And you have said,</div><div class="q2">&#8220;With my many chariots</div><div class="q1">I have ascended the heights of the mountains,</div><div class="q2">the utmost heights of Lebanon.</div><div class="q1">I have cut down its tallest cedars,</div><div class="q2">the choicest of its junipers.</div><div class="q1">I have reached its remotest parts,</div><div class="q2">the finest of its forests.</div><div class="q1"> 24I have dug wells in foreign lands</div><div class="q2">and drunk the water there.</div><div class="q1">With the soles of my feet</div><div class="q2">I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 25&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Have you not heard?</div><div class="q2">Long ago I ordained it.</div><div class="q1">In days of old I planned it;</div><div class="q2">now I have brought it to pass,</div><div class="q1">that you have turned fortified cities</div><div class="q2">into piles of stone.</div><div class="q1"> 26Their people, drained of power,</div><div class="q2">are dismayed and put to shame.</div><div class="q1">They are like plants in the field,</div><div class="q2">like tender green shoots,</div><div class="q1">like grass sprouting on the roof,</div><div class="q2">scorched before it grows up.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 27&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;But I know where you are</div><div class="q2">and when you come and go</div><div class="q2">and how you rage against me.</div><div class="q1"> 28Because you rage against me</div><div class="q2">and because your insolence has reached my ears,</div><div class="q1">I will put my hook in your nose</div><div class="q2">and my bit in your mouth,</div><div class="q1">and I will make you return</div><div class="q2">by the way you came.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 29&#8220;This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;This year you will eat what grows by itself,</div><div class="q2">and the second year what springs from that.</div><div class="q1">But in the third year sow and reap,</div><div class="q2">plant vineyards and eat their fruit.</div><div class="q1"> 30Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah</div><div class="q2">will take root below and bear fruit above.</div><div class="q1"> 31For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,</div><div class="q2">and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.</div><div class="m">&#8220;The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 32&#8220;Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;He will not enter this city</div><div class="q2">or shoot an arrow here.</div><div class="q1">He will not come before it with shield</div><div class="q2">or build a siege ramp against it.</div><div class="q1"> 33By the way that he came he will return;</div><div class="q2">he will not enter this city,</div><div class="q4">declares the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 34I will defend this city and save it,</div><div class="q2">for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 35That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning&#8212;there were all the dead bodies! 36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.</div><div class="p"> 37One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2KI">
 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="2KI.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">Hezekiah&#8217;s Illness</div><div class="p"> 1In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, &#8220;This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3&#8220;Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.&#8221; And Hezekiah wept bitterly.</div><div class="p"> 4Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5&#8220;Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, &#8216;This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then Isaiah said, &#8220;Prepare a poultice of figs.&#8221; They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.</div><div class="p"> 8Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, &#8220;What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord on the third day from now?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Isaiah answered, &#8220;This is the Lord&#8217;s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,&#8221; said Hezekiah. &#8220;Rather, have it go back ten steps.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.</div><div class="s1">Envoys From Babylon</div><div class="p"> 12At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah&#8217;s illness. 13Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses&#8212;the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil&#8212;his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.</div><div class="p"> 14Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, &#8220;What did those men say, and where did they come from?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;From a distant land,&#8221; Hezekiah replied. &#8220;They came from Babylon.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15The prophet asked, &#8220;What did they see in your palace?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;They saw everything in my palace,&#8221; Hezekiah said. &#8220;There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, &#8220;Hear the word of the Lord: 17The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,&#8221; Hezekiah replied. For he thought, &#8220;Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20As for the other events of Hezekiah&#8217;s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 21Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CH">
 <div class="chapter ch32" data-usfm="2CH.32">
 <div class="label">32</div><div class="s1">Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem</div><div class="p"> 1After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. 2When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem, 3he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. 4They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. &#8220;Why should the kings#32:4 Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac king of Assyria come and find plenty of water?&#8221; they said. 5Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the terraces#32:5 Or the Millo of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields.</div><div class="p"> 6He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: 7&#8220;Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 8With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.&#8221; And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.</div><div class="p"> 9Later, when Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces were laying siege to Lachish, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and for all the people of Judah who were there:</div><div class="pm"> 10&#8220;This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what are you basing your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? 11When Hezekiah says, &#8216;The Lord our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria,&#8217; he is misleading you, to let you die of hunger and thirst. 12Did not Hezekiah himself remove this god&#8217;s high places and altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, &#8216;You must worship before one altar and burn sacrifices on it&#8217;?</div><div class="pm"> 13&#8220;Do you not know what I and my predecessors have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of those nations ever able to deliver their land from my hand? 14Who of all the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand? 15Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors. How much less will your god deliver you from my hand!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Sennacherib&#8217;s officers spoke further against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17The king also wrote letters ridiculing the Lord, the God of Israel, and saying this against him: &#8220;Just as the gods of the peoples of the other lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.&#8221; 18Then they called out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to terrify them and make them afraid in order to capture the city. 19They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world&#8212;the work of human hands.</div><div class="p"> 20King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. 21And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword.</div><div class="p"> 22So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them#32:22 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate He gave them rest on every side. 23Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations.</div><div class="s1">Hezekiah&#8217;s Pride, Success and Death</div><div class="p"> 24In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. 25But Hezekiah&#8217;s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord&#8217;s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord&#8217;s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.</div><div class="p"> 27Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. 28He also made buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil; and he made stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. 29He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches.</div><div class="p"> 30It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. 31But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.</div><div class="p"> 32The other events of Hezekiah&#8217;s reign and his acts of devotion are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 33Hezekiah rested with his ancestors and was buried on the hill where the tombs of David&#8217;s descendants are. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem honored him when he died. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.</div>
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