And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

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

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

They feared LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

with whom 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 LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him ye shall fear, and to him ye shall bow yourselves, and to him ye shall 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.

And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget. Neither shall ye fear other gods,

but ye shall ye fear LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

So these nations feared LORD, and served their graven images, their sons likewise, and their son's sons, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.

He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

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

He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For to those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan.

And LORD was with him. Wherever he went forth he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him.

He smote the Philistines to Gaza and the borders of it, 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 at the end of three years they took it. Samaria was taken in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel.

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

because they did not obey the voice of LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of LORD commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.

Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.

And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended. Return from me. That which thou put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of

And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.

At that time Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of 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 Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they came up, they came and stood by the conduit of the

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

And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which thou trust?

Thou say (but they are but vain words), [There is] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do thou trust that thou have rebelled against me?

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

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

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

How then can thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

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

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. And do not speak with us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people

But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? [Has he] not [sent me] to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own urine with you?

Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear ye the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

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

Do not hearken to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me. And eat ye every man of his vine, and every man of his fig tree, and drink ye every man the waters of his own cistern,

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 ye may live, and not die. And do not hearken to Hezekiah when he per

Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

But the people were silent, and did not answer him a word, for the king's commandment was, saying, Do not answer him.

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of 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 says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy, for the sons have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.

It may be that LORD thy 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 LORD thy God has heard. Therefore lift up thy prayer for the remn

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

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

So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he comes out to fight against thee, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let thy God in whom thou trust deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

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

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden that were in Telassar?

Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of LORD, and spread it before LORD.

And Hezekiah prayed before LORD, and said, O LORD, the God of Israel, who sits [above] the cherubim, thou are the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou have made heaven and earth.

Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear. Open thine eyes, O LORD, and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent for him to defy the living God.

Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

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

Whom have thou defied and blasphemed? And against whom have thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? [Even] against the Holy One of Israel.

By thy messengers thou have defied 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 the tall cedars of it, and the choice f

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

Have thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that thou should be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up.

But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me.

Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou came.

And this shall be the sign to thee: Ye shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same. And in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it.

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of LORD shall perform this.

By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city, says LORD.

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 agent of LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

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

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

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

Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept greatly.

And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of LORD came to him, saying,

Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus says 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 shall go up to the house of 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 Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of LORD the third day?

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

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

And Isaiah the prophet cried to LORD, and he brought the shadow ten steps 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 oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was no

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

And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.

And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of 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 to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says LORD.

And of thy sons who shall issue from thee, whom thou shall beget, they shall take away. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of LORD which thou have spoken is good. He said moreover, Is it not so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

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

And he did that which was evil in the sight of LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom LORD cast out before the sons of Israel.

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. And he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

And he built altars in the house of LORD, of which LORD said, In Jerusalem I will put my name.

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