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.

Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

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. Do not listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us."

It may be the LORD 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 the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?

By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.

I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.'

Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will 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."

For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of the LORD will perform this.'

'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

"Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says the LORD, 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 the LORD.

I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake."'"

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 the third day?"

Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."

He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;

neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."

I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;

"Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.

'Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the disaster which I will bring on this place.'"'" They brought back this message to the king.

The LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.'"

Of Manasseh also there fell away some to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle; but they did not help them; for the lords of the Philistines sent him away after consultation, saying, "He will fall away to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads."

David inquired of God, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?" The LORD said to him, "Go up; for I will deliver them into your hand."

saying, "I will give you the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance,"

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.

I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,

and from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover I tell you that the LORD will build you a house.

It shall happen, when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who shall be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. I will not take my loving kindness away from him, as I took it from him that was before you;

but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever. His throne shall be established forever."'"

For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you.

David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me." So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.

He said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

Joab said, "May the LORD make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?"

King David said to Ornan, "No; but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering without cost."

David said, "Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it." So David prepared abundantly before his death.

Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days.

He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.'

Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which the LORD gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong, and courageous. Do not be afraid, neither be dismayed.

Also the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service."

He said to me, 'Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

I will establish his kingdom forever, if he continues to do my commandments and my ordinances, as at this day.'

You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

David said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

Behold, there are the divisions of the priests and the Levites, for all the service of God's house. There shall be with you in all kinds of work every willing man who has skill, for any kind of service. Also the captains and all the people will be entirely at your command."

wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you; neither shall there any after you have the like."

Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil."

and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem."

"But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven can't contain you; how much less this house which I have built.

if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

"As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;

then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.'

then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

"Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you."

They spoke to him, saying, "If you are kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever."

Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, "Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?" He answered him, "I am as you are, and my people as your people. We will be with you in the war."

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?" They said, "Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king."

All the prophets prophesied so, saying, "Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper; for the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king."

Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, what my God says, that will I speak."

A spirit came out, stood before the LORD, and said, 'I will entice him.' "The LORD said to him, 'How?'

"He said, 'I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' "He said, 'You will entice him, and will prevail also. Go forth, and do so.'

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle.

'If evil comes on us?the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine?we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.'

Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do, but our eyes are on you."

You will not need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed. Go out against them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you.'"

behold, the LORD will strike with a great plague your people, and your children, and your wives, and all your substance;

But if you will go, take action, be strong for the battle. God will overthrow you before the enemy; for God has power to help, and to overthrow."

Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as his wife; then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.

and said to them, "You shall not bring in the captives here: for you purpose that which will bring on us a trespass against the LORD, to add to our sins and to our trespass; for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel."

For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which struck him; and he said, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, so I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me." But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

For if you turn again to the LORD, your brothers and your children shall find compassion before those who led them captive, and shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him."

Doesn't Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, 'The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?'

Now therefore do not let Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this way, neither believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand?"

He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in God's house, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever:

neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances given by Moses."

"Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.

"Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, neither shall your eyes see all the disaster that I will bring on this place, and on its inhabitants."'" They brought back word to the king.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of ancestral houses of Israel, said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

Be it known now to the king that if this city is built, and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings.

I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you.

Whatever shall seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that after the will of your God.

Whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

"Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;

but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.'

The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), "For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"

Then answered I them, and said to them, "The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem."

He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, since they are burned?"

It happened that when the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."

Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us."