Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and have dwelt there to this day.

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me from the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.

And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

And the king of Assyria hearkened to him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it.

And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.

And when the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered on it.

And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening meat-offering, and the king's burnt-sacrifice, and his meat-offering, with the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their meat-offering, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by.

Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present 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.

Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

And there they burnt incense on all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

For they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye 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.

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.

Wherefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

So they feared the LORD, and made to themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

To this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

But the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an out-stretched arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.

So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they to this day.

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

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

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the groves, and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for till those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

For he cleaved to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

He smote the Philistines, even to Gaza, and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

And it came to pass 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.

And the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:

Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army against Jerusalem: and they went up, and came to Jerusalem: and when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.

And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

And Rab-shakeh said to them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which thou trustest?

Now behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man leaneth, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him.

But if ye say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou shalt be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah, to Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

But Rab-shakeh said to them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, that they may feed on their vilest excretions with you?

Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:

Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-oil and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not to Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

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 rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.

And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

And 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.

And they said to him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

And when he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Cush, Behold, he hath come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, 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, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

LORD, bow down thy ear, and hear: open, LORD, thy eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent him to reproach the living God.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the hight of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down its tall cedar trees, and its choice fir trees: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldst be to lay waste fortified cities in ruinous heaps.

And this shall be a sign to thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of it.

For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape from mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

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

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying,

And it came to pass, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of the LORD.

And I will add to thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee 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.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be 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 the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten degrees: no, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

And Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

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.

And Hezekiah hearkened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all 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 showed them not.

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

And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth shall be in my days?

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzi-bah.

And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he committed much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

And he set a graven image of the grove 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 tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if 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.

But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:

And I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;

Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.

Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

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

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