Historical

Put Your House In Order

20 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says Adonai: Put your house in order. For you are dying, and will not live.”

² Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Adonai saying: ³ “Please, Adonai, remember how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Then it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out of the middle court, that the word of Adonai came to him, saying: ⁵ “Return, and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, thus says Adonai, the God of your father David: ‘I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Behold, I am going to heal you. On the third day you will go up to the House of Adonai. ⁶ Then I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’”

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” So they took one and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Adonai will heal me, and that I should go up to the House of Adonai on the third day?”

⁹ Then Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Adonai, that Adonai will do this word He has spoken: Should the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for a shadow to go forward ten steps; no, let the shadow turn back ten steps.”

¹¹ Then Isaiah the prophet cried to Adonai; and He brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

Hezekiah Shows His Treasury to Babylon

¹² At that time Berodach-baladan, son of King Baladan of Babylon, sent a letter and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ Now Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them his entire treasure house—the silver and the gold, the spices and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?”

Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing of my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Adonai: ¹⁷ ‘Behold, days are coming when everything in your house, which your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon—nothing will be left,’ says Adonai. ¹⁸ ‘Moreover, some of your descendants—who will issue from you, whom you will father—will be taken away and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Good is the word of Adonai which you have spoken.” For he thought, “Is it not so, if there will be shalom and security in my days?”

²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might—including how he made the pool and the tunnel that brought water into the city—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²¹ So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

Wicked Kings Manasseh and Amon

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzi-bah. ² But he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, following the abominations of the nations that Adonai had dispossessed before Bnei-Yisrael. ³ For he rebuilt the shrines that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and bowed down to all the host of heaven and worshipped them. ⁴ He even built altars in Adonai’s House, where Adonai had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.” ⁵ He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the House of Adonai. ⁶ He also made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in Adonai’s eyes to provoke Him.

⁷ Then he set up the carved image of Asherah that he made in the House about which Adonai had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this House and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever. ⁸ No longer will I cause the feet of Israel to wander from the land which I gave their fathers—if only they will keep doing all I have commanded them and the whole Torah that My servant Moses commanded them.”

⁹ But they did not listen, so Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations that Adonai had destroyed before Bnei-Yisrael. ¹⁰ Then Adonai spoke through His servants the prophets, saying: ¹¹ “Since King Manasseh of Judah has done these abominations, and has outdone in wickedness all that the Amorites who were before him did, and has also made Judah sin with his idols, ¹² therefore thus says Adonai, God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle! ¹³ I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will utterly wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ Then I will cast off the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies—they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies. ¹⁵ For they have done such evil in My eyes, and kept provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt up to this day.”

¹⁶ Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood until he filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to another—in addition to his sin which he made Judah sin, in doing what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. ¹⁷ Now the rest of the deeds of Manasseh, all that he did and his sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Then Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own palace, in the garden of Uzza.

Then his son Amon became king in his place. ¹⁹ Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked in, and worshipped the idols that his father had worshipped, and bowed down to them. ²² He abandoned Adonai, God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Adonai.

²³ Then Amon’s courtiers conspired against him and assassinated the king in his own palace. ²⁴ But the people of the land put to death all the conspirators against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

²⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ Then he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Josiah and a Discovered Torah Scroll

22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² Now he did what was right in the eyes of Adonai and walked in all the ways of his father David, and turned not aside to the right or to the left.

³ It came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah that the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam the scribe, to the House of Adonai, saying. ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the kohen gadol and let him weigh the silver that has been brought to the House of Adonai, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. ⁵ Then let them give it into the hand of the workmen appointed to oversee the work on the House of Adonai and let them in turn give it to the workmen that are in the House of Adonai to repair the damages to the House: ⁶ to the carpenters, builders and masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the House.” ⁷ However, there was no accounting made with them for the silver given into their hand, for they dealt faithfully.

⁸ Hilkiah the kohen gadol said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found a scroll of the Torah in the House of Adonai.” So Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan who read it.

⁹ Then Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, “Your servants have emptied out the silver that was found in the House and have given it into the hand of the workmen appointed to oversee the work on the House of Adonai.” ¹⁰ Shaphan the scribe also told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the kohen has given me a scroll.” Then Shaphan read it before the king.

¹¹ After the king heard the words of the Torah scroll, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the kohen, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah the king’s servant saying: ¹³ “Go, inquire of Adonai for me, for the people and for all Judah, about the words of this scroll that was found. For great is the wrath of Adonai that is kindled against us, since our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do everything written here that concerns us.”

Consulting Huldah the Prophetess

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the kohen, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe—she was living in the Second Quarter of Jerusalem—and spoke with her. ¹⁵ She said to them, “Thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me: ¹⁶ ‘Thus says Adonai, behold, I am bringing disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, as in all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah read. ¹⁷ For they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, in order to provoke Me with all the work of their hands. Therefore My wrath has been kindled against this place and it will not be quenched.’

¹⁸ “But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Adonai, thus will you say to him: ‘Thus says Adonai, God of Israel. As for the words that you have heard, ¹⁹ because your heart was softened and you humbled yourself before Adonai when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants—that they should become a desolation and a curse—and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,’ declares Adonai. ²⁰ ‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you will be gathered to your grave in shalom. So your eyes will not see all the disaster I am bringing on this place.’” Then they brought back word to the king.