And thereto the pulpit for the Sabbath that they had made in the house, and the king's entry without turned he to the house of the LORD, for fear of the king of Assyria.

And Ahaz laid him to rest with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his room.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria upon Israel, and continued nine years,

And the king of Assyria found treason in Hoshea, because he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and sent no presents unto the king of Assyria, as he was yearly wont to do. Therefore the king of Assyria besieged him and put him in prison.

And then the king of Assyria came throughout all the land, and came to Samaria and besieged it three years.

And there they sacrificed in the Hill altars, as did the heathen which the LORD carried away at their coming, and wrought wicked deeds, to anger the LORD withal.

And they served Idols, whereof the LORD had said to them, "Ye shall not do so."

And the LORD testified to Israel and to Judah, by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, "Turn from your wicked ways and keep my commandments and mine ordinances according to all the laws which I commanded your fathers, and as I sent to you by my servants the prophets."

Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the necks of their fathers that did not believe the LORD their God.

And they refused his ordinances and his covenant that he had made with their fathers, and the witness which he had witnessed to them and followed vanity and became vain, like to the heathen that were round about them, of which the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

But they left the commandments of the LORD their God and made them Images of metal, even two calves: and made groves and bowed themselves unto all the Host of heaven, and served Baal.

And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters in fire, and used witchcraft and enchantments, and were sold to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, for to anger him.

until the LORD had put Israel away out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. And so he translated Israel out of their land to Assyria, even unto this day.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Carry thither one of the priests which ye brought thence, and let him go and dwell there, and teach them the fashion how to serve the God of the country."

Unto this day they do after the old manner: they neither fear the LORD, neither do after their own ordinances and customs, and after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob whose name he called Israel,

and made a covenant with them and charged them, saying, "Fear not any other gods, nor bow yourselves to them nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

But to the LORD which brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm: him fear and to him bow and to him do sacrifice.

And the ordinances, customs, law and commandment which I wrote for you, see that ye be diligent to do for evermore, and fear not any other gods.

And even so did these nations fear the LORD and serve their images thereto: and so did their children, and their children's children too. Even as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

Twenty five years old was he, when he began to reign, and reigned twenty nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zachariah,

and he did that pleased the LORD in all things, like to David his father.

He put away the hill altars, and brake the images and cut down the groves, and all to brake the brazen serpent that Moses made - for unto those days the children of Israel did burn sacrifice to it, and called it Nehushtan.

He clave to the LORD and departed not from him, but kept his commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.

He beat the Philistines even unto Gaza and the coasts thereof, both in castles of garrisons and strong cities too.

And they took it at the end of three years, which was the sixth of Hezekiah: that is to say the ninth year of Hosea king of Israel, was Samaria won.

because they would not hearken unto the voice of the LORD their God. But transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would neither hear nor do.

Whereupon Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, "I have offended. But depart from me, and what thou puttest on me that I will bear." And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

And the said season Hezekiah rent off the doors of the temple of the LORD and the pillars, which the said Hezekiah king of Judah covered over, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh, from Lachish, to king Hezekiah with a great Host to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and went and stood by the conduit of the uppermost pool, which is in the way to the fuller's field,

and called to the king. And there came out to them, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah steward of household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

Thou wilt haply speak a light word, that thou hast counsel and power to make war. On whom then dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

Dost thou trust to the staff of this broken reed Egypt, on which if a man lean it will run into his hand and pierce it? For even so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

If ye say unto me, 'We trust in the LORD our God' - Is not that he whose hill altars and other altars too, Hezekiah hath put down, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'Bow yourselves before this altar here in Jerusalem'?

And now join thyself to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able to set riders upon them:

and, if thou be not, how then art thou able to resist one of the least dukes of my master's servants? Or trustest thou to Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

Moreover, thinkest thou that I am come without the bidding of the LORD to this place to destroy it? Nay: the LORD said to me, 'Go up to this land, and destroy it.''"

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebnah and Joah, to Rabshakeh, "Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrians' language, for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' tongue, in the ears of the people that are on the walls."

And Rabshakeh said unto them, "Hath my master sent me only to thy master and to thee, to speak these words? Or rather to the men that keep on the walls, that they shall eat their own dirt, and drink their own piss with you?"

Thus sayeth the king, 'Let not Hezekiah beguile you, for he is not able to deliver you out of mine hand:

neither let Hezekiah make you trust to the LORD, saying: the LORD will surely rid us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria.'

Hearken not unto Hezekiah, for thus sayeth the king of Assyria, 'Deal kindly with me, and come out to me. And then eat every man of his own vine, and of his own fig tree, and drink every man of the water of his own well,

till I come and fetch you to as good a land as yours is: a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, of oil and of honey. And ye shall live and not die. And hearken not unto Hezekiah for he will beguile you, saying: the LORD shall deliver us.'

Then Eliakim the steward of household, and Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Furthermore he sent Eliakim, steward of the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and the elders of the priests clothed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

And they said to him, "Thus sayeth Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of tribulation, rebuking and railing. Even as when the children are ready to be born, and the mothers have no power to be delivered.

O that the LORD thy God would hear all the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to rail on the living God, and to rebuke him with words which the LORD thy God hath heard. Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left."

When the servants of king Hezekiah were come to Isaiah,

Isaiah said to them, "So shall you say to your master: 'Thus sayeth the LORD: be not afraid of the words thou heardest, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have railed on me.

For I will send him a blast that he shall hear tidings, and so return to his own land: And I will overthrow him with the sword even in his own land.'"

And he heard tidings of Tirhakah king of the black Moors, how that he was come out to fight against him. And thereupon he departed and sent messengers unto Hezekiah, saying,

"Thus say to Hezekiah king of Juda, 'Let not thy God carry thee out of the way, in whom thou so trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, how they have utterly destroyed them. And how then shouldest thou escape?

LORD, bow thine ears and hear; Open LORD thine eyes and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to rail on the living God.

And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel, that thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria: I have heard it.

By the hand of thy messengers thou hast railed on the Lord and said, 'With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, even along by the sides of Lebanon, and have cut off the high Cedar trees, and the lusty fir trees thereof, even to the wood of Carmel that belongeth thereto!

But hast thou not heard how I have ordained such a thing a great while ago, and have prepared it from the beginning? And now I bring it forth and it shall be to destroy and to bring strong cities into rude heaps of stones.

And the inhabiters of them shall be of little power, and faint-hearted and confounded. They shall be like the grass of the field and green herbs, and as the hay on the tops of the houses which withereth afore it come to any height.

I know where thou dwellest, and thy coming out and going in know I too; and how thou settest up thy bristles against me.

And because thou settest up thy bristles against me, and that thy raging is come up to mine ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose and a bit in thy lips, and will bring thee back again the same way thou camest.

For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and a number that shall escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of Hosts shall bring this thing to pass.

Wherefore thus sayeth the LORD, of the king of Assyria: He shall not come to this city, nor shoot arrow into it, nor come before with shield nor cast any bank against it -

About that time Hezekiah was sick unto the death. And the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus sayeth the LORD: put thine household in an order, for thou shalt die and not live."

And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and besought the LORD, saying,

And Isaiah was scarce gone out into the middle of the city, but that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

"Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people: 'Thus sayeth the LORD God of David thy father. I have heard thy prayer and seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee, and this day three days thou shalt go up into the house of the LORD.

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "What is the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?"

And Isaiah said, "This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back again ten degrees?"

And Hezekiah said, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees. Therefore I will not that: but let the shadow go backward ten degrees."

And Isaiah the Prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward by which it had gone down, in the dial of Ahaz.

Then came Isaiah the Prophet unto king Hezekiah and said to him, "What say these men and from whence come they to thee?" And Hezekiah said, "They be come from a far country, even from Babylon."

And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD:

Behold, the day shall come, that all that is in thine house and that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon, and nothing shall be left, sayeth the LORD.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "Welcome be the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken: so that peace and truth be kept in my days."

And Hezekiah laid him to rest with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: his mother's name was Hephzibah.

And he went and built the hill altars again, which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. And he reared up altars to Baal and made groves, as did Ahab king of Israel. And he bowed himself unto all the host of heaven and served them.

And he built altars unto all the host of heaven, even in two courts of the house of the LORD.

And he offered his son in fire, and observed dismal days; and used witchcraft and maintained workers with spirits, and tellers of fortunes - and wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD to anger him.

And he put an image of a grove that he had made, even in the very temple of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.

Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers: so that they will be diligent to do all I have commanded them, and all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."

But they hearkened not: for Manasseh had led them out of the way, to do more wickedness than did the heathen people which the LORD destroyed from before the children of Israel.

even because they have done wickedly and have angered me, since the time their fathers came out of Egypt unto this day."

And thereto Manasseh shed innocent blood exceeding abundantly, in so much that he replenished Jerusalem in all corners, beside his sin wherewith he made Judah sin and to do evil in the sight of the LORD.

And Manasseh laid him to sleep with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, even in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

Amon was twenty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the Idols that his father served, and bowed himself to them.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

And he did that seemed right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and bowed neither to the righthand nor to the left.

And the eighteenth year of his reign king Josiah sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe to the house of the LORD, saying,

"Go to Hilkiah the high priest, and let him sum the silver that is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the doors have gathered of the people;

and let them deliver it into the hands of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the LORD, which shall give it to them that work upon the house of the LORD, to repair the decayed places thereof -

even unto carpenters and masons, and for to buy timber and free stone to repair the house.

Howbeit, let no reckoning be made with them of the money that is delivered into their hands, but let them do it of their conscience."

And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

And then Shaphan the scribe went to the king and brought him word again, and said, "Thy servants poured out the silver that was found in the temple, and have delivered it unto the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the LORD."

"Go ye and seek of the LORD for me, and the people, and for all Judah; concerning the words of this book that is found. For it is a great wrath of the LORD that is kindled upon us, that our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do in all points as it is written therein."

And she said to them, "Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: 'Tell the man that sent you to me,

because they have forsaken me and have burnt offerings unto other gods, to anger me with all the works of their hands. Therefore is my wrath kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say: thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel, as touching the words which thou heardest.

And the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD that they should walk after the LORD, and keep his commandments and his witnesses and his ordinances with all their hearts and all their souls, and make good the words of the said covenant that were written in the foresaid book. And all the people consented to the covenant.