May 19
2 Chronicles 32 - 34 (New International Version)
2 Chronicles 32
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
1 After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done,
Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the
fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. 2
When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war
against Jerusalem, 3 he consulted with his officials and
military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the
city, and they helped him. 4 They gathered a large group
of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the
land. “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they
said. 5 Then he worked hard repairing all the broken
sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall
outside that one and reinforced the terraces of the City of David. He also
made large numbers of weapons and shields.
6 He appointed military officers over the people and
assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them
with these words: 7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be
afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with
him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 8
With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help
us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what
Hezekiah the king of Judah said.
9 Later, when Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his
forces were laying siege to Lachish, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with
this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and for all the people of Judah who
were there:
10 “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what
are you basing your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?
11 When Hezekiah says, ‘The LORD our God will save us from
the hand of the king of Assyria,’ he is misleading you, to let you die of
hunger and thirst. 12 Did not Hezekiah himself remove this
god’s high places and altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must
worship before one altar and burn sacrifices on it’?
13 “Do you not know what I and my predecessors have done
to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of those nations ever
able to deliver their land from my hand? 14 Who of all the
gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to save
his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand?
15 Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you like this.
Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to
deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors. How much
less will your god deliver you from my hand!”
16 Sennacherib’s officers spoke further against the LORD
God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17 The king also
wrote letters ridiculing the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying this
against him: “Just as the gods of the peoples of the other lands did not
rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his
people from my hand.” 18 Then they called out in Hebrew to
the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to terrify them and make them
afraid in order to capture the city. 19 They spoke about
the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the
world—the work of human hands.
20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried
out in prayer to heaven about this. 21 And the LORD sent
an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and
officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in
disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his
own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword.
22 So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem
from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all
others. He took care of them on every side. 23 Many
brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah
king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations.
Hezekiah’s Pride, Success and Death
24 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point
of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous
sign. 25 But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not
respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and
on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Then Hezekiah repented of the
pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the LORD’s
wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.
27 Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor, and he made
treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices,
shields and all kinds of valuables. 28 He also made
buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil; and he made
stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. 29
He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God
had given him very great riches.
30 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the
Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of
David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. 31 But
when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the
miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and
to know everything that was in his heart.
32 The other events of Hezekiah’s reign and his acts of
devotion are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the
book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 33 Hezekiah rested
with his ancestors and was buried on the hill where the tombs of David’s
descendants are. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem honored him when he
died. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.
2 Chronicles 33
Manasseh King of Judah
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and
he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. 2 He did evil in
the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the
LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt
the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars
to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts
and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the
LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem
forever.” 5 In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he
built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his
children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and
witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much
evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.
7 He took the image he had made and put it in God’s
temple, of which God 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 Name forever. 8 I will not again
make the feet of the Israelites leave the land I assigned to your ancestors,
if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them concerning
all the laws, decrees and regulations given through Moses.” 9
But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did
more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they
paid no attention. 11 So the LORD brought against them the
army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a
hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 13
And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened
to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then
Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
14 Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of
David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the
Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He
stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image
from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the
temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16
Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings
and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of
Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at
the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
18 The other events of Manasseh’s reign, including his
prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the
LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as
well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high
places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself—all
these are written in the records of the seers. 20 Manasseh
rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace. And Amon his son
succeeded him as king.
Amon King of Judah
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and
he reigned in Jerusalem two years. 22 He did evil in the
eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped and
offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made. 23
But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the LORD;
Amon increased his guilt.
24 Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated
him in his palace. 25 Then the people of the land killed
all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in
his place.
2 Chronicles 34
Josiah’s Reforms
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he
reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 2 He did what was
right in the eyes of the LORD and followed the ways of his father David, not
turning aside to the right or to the left.
3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still
young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he
began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.
4 Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn
down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed
the Asherah poles and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over
the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He
burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and
Jerusalem. 6 In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon,
as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, 7 he
tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder
and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went
back to Jerusalem.
8 In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the
land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler
of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of
the LORD his God.
9 They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the
money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who
were the gatekeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and
the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 Then they entrusted
it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the LORD’s temple. These
men paid the workers who repaired and restored the temple. 11
They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to purchase dressed
stone, and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of
Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.
12 The workers labored faithfully. Over them to direct
them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah
and Meshullam, descended from Kohath. The Levites—all who were skilled in
playing musical instruments— 13 had charge of the laborers
and supervised all the workers from job to job. Some of the Levites were
secretaries, scribes and gatekeepers.
The Book of the Law Found
14 While they were bringing out the money that had been
taken into the temple of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the
Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. 15
Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in
the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan.
16 Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to
him: “Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them.
17 They have paid out the money that was in the temple of
the LORD and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers.” 18
Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given
me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his
robes. 20 He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of
Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s
attendant: 21 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for
the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has
been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that is poured out on us because those
who have gone before us have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not
acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”
22 Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him went to
speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the
son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New
Quarter.
23 She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of
Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 24 ‘This is
what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its
people—all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence
of the king of Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me and
burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands
have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be
quenched.’ 26 Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to
inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says
concerning the words you heard: 27 Because your heart was
responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke
against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before
me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares
the LORD. 28 Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and
you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am
going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”
So they took her answer back to the king.
29 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah
and Jerusalem. 30 He went up to the temple of the LORD
with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the
Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their
hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in
the temple of the LORD. 31 The king stood by his pillar
and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and
keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul,
and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.
32 Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge
themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the
covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.
33 Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the
territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in
Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to
follow the LORD, the God of their ancestors.