II. KINGS.

Hezekiah mourneth. and I will deliver thee two thoufand 37 Then came Eliakim the fon of Hilhorfes, if thou be able on thy part to fet riders upon them.

35 Hath any of the gods of the na-parted from Lachith. tions delivered at all his land out of the 9 And when he heard fay of Tirhakah hand of the king of Affyria? king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out 34 Where are the gods of Hamath, to fight against thee: he fent meffengers and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Se-again unto Hezekiah, faying, pharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they 10 Thus hall ye fpeak to Hezekiah

Hezekiah's prayer.

Chap. xx. Broyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Regeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelafar ?

the LORD.

His prayer is anfwered. 559

26 Therefore, their inhabitants were of fmall power, they were difmayed and confounded; they were as the grafs of the field, and as the green herb, as the grafs on the houfe tops, and as corn blafted before it be grown up.

27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah 14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the meffengers, and read it and Hezekiah went up into the houfe of the LORD, and spread it before 28 Becaufe thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the therefore I will put my hook in thy Los D, and faid, O LORD God of Ifrael, nofe, and my bridle in thy lips, and I which dwelleft between the cherubims, will turn thee back by the way by which thou art the God, even thou alone, of thou cameft. all the kingdoms of the earth; thou haft 29 And this ball be a fign unto thee, Ye made heaven and earth. fhall eat this year fuch things as grow of themfelves, and in the fecond year that which fpringeth of the fame; and in the third year fow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

16 LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear open, LORD, thine eyes, and fee: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath fent him to reproach the living God.

17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Affyria have deftroyed the nations and their lands,

18 And have caft their gods into the fire for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and ftone: therefore they have deftroyed them.

19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, fave thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

20 Then Ifaiah the son of Amoz fent to Hezekiah, faying, Thus faith the LORD God of Ifrael, That which thou haft prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Affyria I have heard:

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

31 For out of Jerufalem fhall go forth a remnant, and they that elcape out of mount Zion; the zeal of the LORD f bos fhall do this.

32 Therefore, thus faith the LORD CONcerning the king of Affyria, He shall not come into this city, nor fhoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor caft a bank against it.

33 By the way that he came, by the fame fhall he return, and fhall not come into this city; faith the LORD.

34 For I will defend this city to fave it, for mine own fake, and for my fervant David's fake.

21 This is the word that the LORD hath 85 And it came to pafs that night, fpoken concerning him: The virgin the that the angel of the LORD went out, daughter of Zion hath defpifed thee, and and fmote in the camp of the Affyrians, laughed thee to fcorn: the daughter of an hundred fourfcore and five thousand: Jerufalem hath fhaken her head at thee.and when they arofe early in the morn22 Whom haft thou reproached and ing, behold, they were all dead corples. blafphemed and, against whom haft thou exalted by voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Ifrael.

23 By thy meffengers thou haft reproached the LORD, and haft faid, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the fides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the foreft of his Carmel.

24 I have digged and drunk strange wa ters, and with the fole of my feet have 1 dried up all the rivers of befieged places. 25 Haft thou not heard long ago bow I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pafs, that thou fhouldeft be to lay wafte fenced cities into ruinous heaps,

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

37 And it came to paf, as he was worfhipping in the houfe of Nifroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his fons fmote him with the fword: and they elcaped into the land of Armenia. And Efarhaddon his fon reigned in his stead. CHAP. XX.

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

Manaffeb's wicked reign. is in thine houfe, and that which thy fathers have laid up in ftore unto this day, fhall be carried into Babylon; nothing fhall be left, faith the LORD.

18 And of thy fons that shall ifiue from thee, which thou shalt beget, fhall they take away; and they fhall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon

And it came to pafs, afore Ifaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, faying, 5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the 19 Then faid Hezekiah unto Ifaiah, captain of my people, thus faith the Good is the word of the LORD which LORD, the God of David thy father, Ithou haft fpoken. And he faid, Is it not have heard thy prayer, I have feen thy good, if peace and truth be in my days? tears behold I will heal thee: on the 20 And the reft of the acts of Hezthird day thou shalt go up unto the house ekiah," and all his might, and how he of the LORD. 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?

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 Affyria; and I will defend this city for mine own fake,and for my fervant David's fake.

7 And Ifaiah faid, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8 And Hezekiah faid unto Ifaiah What ball be the fign that the LORD will heal me, and that I fhall go up into the houfe of the LORD the third day?

9 And Ifaiah faid, This fign fhalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: Shall the fhadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the fhadow to go down zen degrees: nay, but let the fhadow return backward ten degrees.

:

11 And Ifaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD and he brought the fhadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

12 At that time Berodachbaladan, the fon of Baladan, king of Babylon, fent letters and a prefent unto Hezekiah: for ke had heard that Hezekiah had been fick. 13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and thewed them all the houfe of his precious things, the filver, and the gold, and the fpices, and the precious ointment, and all the houfe of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah fhewed them not.

21 And Hezekiah flept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his ftead. CHAP. XXI.

1

Manafeb's reign. 3 His great idolatry. 19 Amon's wicked reign. 23 He being Bain, Jefiab is made king.

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

2 And he did that which was evil in the fight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD caft out before the children of Ifrael.

3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had de ftroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grové, as did Ahab king of Ifrael; and worshipped all the hoft of heaven, and ferved them.

4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD faid, In Jerufalem will I put my name.

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

6 And he made his fon to pass through the fire, and obferved times, and ufed enchantments, and dealt with familiar fpir its and wizards: he wrought much wickednefs in the fight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

7 And he fet a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of 14 Then came Ifaiah the prophet un-which the LORD faid to David, and to to king Hezekiah, and faid unto him, Solomon his fon, In this houfe, and in What faid thefe men? and, From whence Jerufalem, which I have ahofen out of came they unto thee? And Hezekiah all tribes of Ifrael, will I put my name faid, They are come from a far country, for ever: even from Babylon.

15 And he faid, What have they feen in thine houfe? And Hezekiah anfwered, All the things that are in mine houfe have they feen there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

16 And Ifaiah faid unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.

17 Behold, the days come, that all that

8 Neither will I make the feet of Ifrael move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will obferve to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to ali the law that my fervant Mofes commanded them.

9 But they hearkened not: and Manafteh feduced them to do more evil than

Manasseb's death.

Chap. xxi

Jofiah's good reign. 31

did the nations whom the LORD deftroy- the book of the chronicles of the kings of ed before children of Ifrael.

10 And the LORD fpake by his fervants the prophets, faying,

11 Because Manaffeh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah alfo to fin with his idols :

12 Therefore, thus faith the LORD God of Ifrael, Behold, I am bringing fuch evil upon Jerufalem and Judah, that who foever heareth of it, both his ears fhall tingle.

13 And I will stretch over Jerufalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Jerufalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upfide down.

14 And I will forfake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they hall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies ;

15 Because they have done that which wasevil in myfight,and have provoked me to anger, fince the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.

Judah?

26 And he was buried in the fepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Jofiah his fon reigned in his ftead.

1

CHAP. XXII.

Jofiah's good reign. 3 He taketh care for the repair of the temple. 8 Hilkiab find. eth the book of the law. 15 Huldah propbeheib the deftruction of Jerufalem. JOSIAH was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerufalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah,the daughter of Adaiah of Bofcath.

2 And he did that which was right in the fight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not afide to the right hand or to the left.

3 ¶ And it came to pafs in the eighteenth year of king Jofiah, that the king fent Shaphan the fon of Azaliah, the fon of Melhullam,the fcribe, to the house of the LORD, faying,

4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may fum the filver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gath

16 Moreover, Manaffeh fbed innocentered of the people: blood very much, till he had filled Jeru- 5 And let them deliver it into the hand falem from one end to another; befide of the doers of the work, that have the his in wherewith he made Judah to fin, overfight of the houfe of the LORD: and in doing that which was evil in the fight let them give it to the doers of the work of the LORD. which is in the houfe of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house.

17 Now the rest of the acts of Manaffeh, and all that he did, and his fin that he finned, Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

18 And Manaffeh flept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own houfe, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his fon reigned in his stead.

6 Unto carpenters, and builders, and mafons, and to buy timber, and hewn ftone to repair the house.

7 Howbeit, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.

19 Amon was twenty and two years 8 And Hilkiah the high priest faid old when he began to reign, and he reign- unto Shaphan the fcribe, I have found ed two years in Jerufalem. And his moth-the book of the law in the house of the er's name was Mefhullemeth, the daugh- LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to ter of Haruz of Jotbah, Shaphan, and he read it.

20 And he did that which was evil in 9 And Shaphan the fcribe came to the the fight of the LORD, as his father Ma-king, and brought the king word again, naffeh did. and faid, Thy fervants have gathered the

21 And he walked in all the way that money that was found in the house, and his father walked in, and ferved the have delivered it into the hand of them idols that his father ferved, and worship-that do the work, that have the overfight ped them: of the house of the LORD.

22 And he forfook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.

10 And Shaphan the fcribe thewed the king, faying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read before the king.

23 And the fervants of Amon con-it fpired against him, and flew the king in his own house.

24 And the people of the land flew all them that had confpired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Jofiah his fon king in his ftead.

25 Now the reft of the acts of Amon which he did, Are they not written in

11 And it came to pafs, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

12 And the king commanded Hilkial the priest, and Ahikam the fon of Shaphan, and Achbor the fon of Michaiah, and Shaphan the fcribe, and Afahiah fervant of the king's, faying,

342 Jerufalem's deftruction foretold. II. KINGS.

and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

Jofiah defroyeth idolatry.

13 Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, commandments and his teftimonies and his ftatutes, with all their heart and all their foul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah "the high priest, and the priests of the fecond order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the veffels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerufalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Afahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetefs, the wife of Shallum the fon of Tikvah, the fon of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now the dwelt in Jerufalem in the college;) and they communed with her.

15 And the faid unto them, Thus faith the LORD God of Ifrael, Tell the man that fent you to me,

16 Thus faith the LORD, Behold will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:

5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incenfe in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerufalem; them alfo that burned incenfe unto Baal, to the fun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

17 Because they have forfaken me, 6 And he brought out the grove from and have burned incenfe unto other gods, the houfe of the LORD, without Jerufathat they might provoke me to anger lem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned with all the works of their hands; there-it at the brook Kidron, and ftamped it fore my wrath fhall be kindled againft this place, and fhall not be quenched.

18 But to the king of Judah which fent you to inquire of the LORD, thus thall ye fay to him. Thus faith the LORD God of Irael, As touching the words which thou hast heard:

fmall to powder, and caft the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

7 And he brake down the houses of the fodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

19 Because thine heart was tender, and 8 And he brought all the priests out thou haft humbled thy felf before the of the cities of Judah, and defiled the LORD, when thou heardest what I fpake high places where the priests had burned against this place, and against the inhab-incenfe, from Geba to Beersheba, and itants thereof, that they fhould become brake down the high places of the gates a defolation and a curfe, and haft rent that were in the entering in of the gate thy clothes, and wept before me; I alfo of Joshua the governor of the city, which have heard thee, faith the LORD. were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.

20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes fhall not fee all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

CHAP. XXIII.

1 Fofab caufeth the book of the law to be read. 3 He reneweth the covenant of the Lord, 4 and deftroyeth idolatry. AND the king fent, and they gathered nnto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerufalem.

2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerufalem with him, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both Imall and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the houfe of the LORD.

8 ¶ And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD, and to keep his

9 Nevertheless, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerufalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his fon or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

11 And he took away the horfes that the kings of Judah had given to the fun, at the entering in of the houfe of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the fuburbs, and burned the chariots of the fun with fire.

12 And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made and the altars which Manaffeh had made, in the two courts of the houfe of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake bem

down