2 Kings 20–21

Hezekiah’s Illness

20:1–11pp—2Ch 32:24–26; Isa 38:1–8

20In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

²Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³“Remember,^d Lord, how I have walked^e before you faithfully^f and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard^g your prayer and seen your tears;^h 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 defendⁱ this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil,^j and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “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?”

⁹Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign^k 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?”

¹⁰“It is a simple^l matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

¹¹Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back^m the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

Envoys From Babylon

20:12–19pp—Isa 39:1–8 20:20–21pp—2Ch 32:32–33

¹²At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. ¹³Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—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.

¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”

¹⁵The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “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.ⁿ Nothing will be left, says the Lord. ¹⁸And some of your descendants,^o 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.”^p

¹⁹“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”

²⁰As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool^q and the tunnel^r 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.

Manasseh King of Judah

21:1–10pp—2Ch 33:1–10 21:17–18pp—2Ch 33:18–20

21Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.^{s 2}He did evil^t in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices^u of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. ³He rebuilt the high places^v his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal^w and made an Asherah pole,^x as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts^y and worshiped them. ⁴He built altars^z in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.”^{a 5}In the two courts^b of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. ⁶He sacrificed his own son^c in the fire, practiced divination,^d sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^e He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing^f his anger.

⁷He took the carved Asherah pole^g he had made and put it in the temple,^h of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Nameⁱ forever. ⁸I will not again^j make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses^k gave them.” ⁹But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil^l than the nations^m the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

¹⁰The Lord said through his servants the prophets: ¹¹“Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evilⁿ than the Amorites^o who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols.^{p 12}Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster^q on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.^{r 13}I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line^s used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe^t out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴I will forsake^u the remnant^v of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; ¹⁵they have done evil^w in my eyes and have aroused^x my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”

¹⁶Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood^y that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah^z to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

¹⁷As for the other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace garden,^a the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.

Amon King of Judah

21:19–24pp—2Ch 33:21–25

¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰He did evil^b in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹He followed completely the ways of his father, worshiping the idols his father had worshiped, and bowing down to them. ²²He forsook^c the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk^d in obedience to him.

²³Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated^e the king in his palace. ²⁴Then the people of the land killed^f all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah^g his son king in his place.

²⁵As for the other events of Amon’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁶He was buried in his tomb in the garden^h of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.