spoke yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah.
17 He wrote also letters to rail at the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.
18 Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ speech to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to make them afraid, and to trouble them; that they might take the city.
19 And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, the work of the hands of man.
20 And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.
21 And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he had come into the house of his god, they that came forth from his own bowels slew him there with the sword. [1]
22 Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.
23 And many brought gifts to the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that from then on he was magnified in the sight of all nations. [2]
24 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near to death, and he prayed to the LORD: and he spoke to him, and he gave him a sign. [3]
25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done to him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 However Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. [4]
27 And Hezekiah had very great riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels; [5]
28 Storehouses also for the increase of grain, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and sheepfolds for flocks.
29 Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance in great abundance.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
31 But in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. [6]
32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. [7]
33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chief of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead. [8]
CHAP. 33.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
2 But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. [9]
4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a medium, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8 Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers; provided they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.
9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.
11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. [10] [11]
12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 And prayed to him: and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he is God.
14 Now after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate, and surrounded Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fortified cities of Judah. [12]
15 And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed on it peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, yet to the LORD their God only.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer also, and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, and his
- ↑ slew...: Heb. made him fall
- ↑ presents: Heb. precious things
- ↑ gave...: or, wrought a miracle for him
- ↑ pride: Heb. lifting up
- ↑ pleasant...: Heb. instruments of desire
- ↑ ambassadors: Heb. interpreters
- ↑ goodness: Heb. kindnesses
- ↑ chiefest: or, highest
- ↑ he built...: Heb. he returned and built
- ↑ of the king: Heb. which were the king’s
- ↑ fetters: or, chains
- ↑ Ophel: or, the tower
