Deliverance is promised. B. C. 710. + Heb. the tallness, &c. Or, the forest and his fruitful field, Is. 10. 18. || Or, fenced. Or, Hast thou not heard how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient I now bring it to be laid waste, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps? + Heb. short g Is. 45. 7. Or, sitting. k Ps. 139. 1, &c. II. KINGS. mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, 24 I have digged and drunk strange 25 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 shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. 26 Therefore their inhabitants were t of small power, they were dismayed 27 But I know thy abode, and thy 28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine 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 m ver.33,36,37. which thou camest. Job 41. 2. Ez. 29. 4. & 38. 4. Am. 4. 2. m 29 And this shall be "a sign unto 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 thereof. 30 °And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: Pthe zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. 32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. 34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. Hezekiah's life lengthened. 5 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 ch. 19. 20. seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. Ps. 65, 2 f Ps. 39. 12. & 56. 8. 6 And I will add unto 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 8 ch. 19. SL this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump Is. 38. 21. of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 8 ¶ And Hezekiah said unto 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? k i See Judg. 6. I 8. 9 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt See Is. 58. 7, thou have of the LORD, that the LORD 35 ¶ And it came to pass that night, will do the thing that he hath spoken: that the angel of the LORD went out, shall the shadow go forward ten deand smote in the camp of the As-grees, or go back ten degrees? syrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. 1 Judah's captivity foretold. B. C. 713. 11 And Isaiah the prophet cried salem. And his mother's name was unto the LORD: and he brought the Hephzi-bah. Se Josh. 10. shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the † dial of Ahaz. 1214. 18.38.8. +Heb degrees. 11,&c. 1 Or, Merodack-bala dan. 712. 2 Chr. 32. 27. 31. 13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house Or, spicery of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 14 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon. 15 And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. 16 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. 17 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto 24.13&this day, Pshall be carried unto Babylon nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. 5.1. Jer. 27. 122.52.17. B. C. about 698. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the b ch. 16. 3. abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 20 And the rest of the acts of about 710. Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? Chr. 32. 30. 12 Chr. 32. 33. about 608. Chr. 33. 1, с das 3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father ch. 18. 4. had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. d 1 Kings 16. 32. 33. e Deut. 4. 19. & 17. 3. ch. 17. 16. g 2 Sam. 7. 13. 1 Kings 8. 29. & 9. 3. 4 And he built altars in the house Jer. 32. 34. of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. & 20. 2. ch. 16. 3. & 17. 17. 6 And he made his son pass through h Lev. 18. 21. the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. i Lev. 19. 26. 31. Deut. 18. 10, 11. ch. 17. 17. 1 Kings 8. 29. & 9. 3. ch. 23. 27. Ps. 132. 13.14. Jer. 32. 34. 7 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, k 2 Sam. 7. 13. and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8 Neither will I make the feet of 12 Sam. 7. 10. 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. 9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil m Prov. 29. 12. than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. 10 And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, 11 "Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and Phath made Judah also to sin with his idols: 12 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both 4 his ears shall tingle. r 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plum-See Is. 34.11. met of the house of Ahab and I will Lam. 2. 8. wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it up-+ Heb. he wiside down. 14 And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them peth and turneth it upon the face thereof. 15 Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 19¶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. 20 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. 21 And he walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them : 22 And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. a 23 And the servants of Amon con2 Chr. 33.24, spired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 25. b Matt. 1. 10, Josias. a 2 Chr. 34. 1. b Josh. 15. 39. 24 And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. 25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? b 26 And he was buried in his sepul- CHAPTER XXII. Jo Josiah's good reign. 3 He provideth for the repair of Josiah's good reign. 2 And he did that which was right B. C. 641. in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, C and turned not aside to the right e Deut. 5. 32 | hand or to the left. 3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, Saying, 4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the † door have gathered of the people : about 624.! 2 Chr. 34. 2, &c. ch. 12. 4. f ch. 12.9. Ps. 84. 10. +Heb. thresh old. 14. 5 And let them deliver it into the 5 ch. 12. 11, 12, hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work, which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, 6 Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. 7 Howbeit, there was no reckoning ch. 12. 15. made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. 8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. i Deut. 31. 24. &c. 2 Chr. $4 14, &c. 9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have +gathered the money that was found † Heb. melted. in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. 10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. Abdom 2 Chr. $4. A 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and * Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, Or, Micah. and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, 13 Go ye, inquire of the LORD for the temple. 12 Josiah sendeth to Huldah to inquire me, and for the people, and for all of Jerusalem, to take place after the death of Jo-Judah, concerning the words of this 17o Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. 18 But to P the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; 19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and ta curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. 20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again. CHAPTER XXIII. Josiah causeth the book of the law to be read in a solemn assembly. 3 He reneweth the covenant of the miketh Jehoiakim king. 36 Jehoiakim's wicked reign. AND the king sent, and they gath 3 Idolatry is destroyed. And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. B. C. 624. e ch. 11. 14, 17. 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for d the grove, and for all the host of 4 ch. 21. 3, 7. heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el. ered unto him all the elders of their brethren. Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, + both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. о m 1 Sam. 2. 36. Jer. 7. 31. & 19.6, 11,12,13. o Josh. 15. 8. 10 And he defiled "Topheth, which 18. 30. 33. is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, P that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through P Lev. 18. 21. Deut. 18. 10. the fire to Molech. Ez. 23. 37, 39. 11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan- || Or, eunuch, melech the chamberlain, which was or, officer. Idolatry is destroyed. B. C. 624. q See Jer. 19. 5. r ch. 21. 5. in the suburbs, and burned the char- the people, saying, Keep the pass- г 12. And the altars that were on the 13. Zeph. 1. top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. || Or, ran from thence. u 1 Kings 12. 28, 33. x 1 Kings 13. 2. y 1 Kings 13. 1, 30. + Heb. to escape. z 1 Kings 13. 31. a See 2 Chr. 34.6, 7. b 1 Kings 13. 2. Or, sacrificed. c Ex. 22. 20. 1 Kings 18. 15¶ Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place "which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. 16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el. 18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. 19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el. d 20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's 40. ch. 11. 18. bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. d 2 Chr. 34. 5. 21 And the king commanded all 23 But in the eighteenth year of about 623. king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. h Or, teraphim, Gen S1. 19. 24 Moreover the workers with ch. 21.6. familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law, which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. k 25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. 26 i Lev. 19. 31. & 20. 27. Deut. 18. 11. k ch. 18. 5. 1 ch. 21. 11, 12 & 24. 3, 4. Jer. 15. 4. Notwithstanding, the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, 'because of all the provocations that Manasseh had +Heb. angers. provoked him withal. 27 And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? P m ch. 17. 18, 20. & 18. 11. & 21. 13. 1 Kings & 29. & 9.3. ch. 21. 4, 7. 610. q ch. 14. 8. 29 In his days Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt went up against the 2 Chr. 35. 20. king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, | p Zech. 12. 11. when he had seen him. 30 And his servants carried him in r 2 Chr. 35. 24. a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. |