2Chronicles:32-34

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* After these things , and the establishment thereof , Sennacherib king of Assyria came , and entered into Judah , and encamped against the fenced cities , and thought to win them for himself . * And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come , and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem , * He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city : and they did help him . * So there was gathered much people together , who stopped all the fountains , and the brook that ran through the midst of the land , saying , Why should the kings of Assyria come , and find much water ? * Also he strengthened himself , and built up all the wall that was broken , and raised it up to the towers , and another wall without , and repaired Millo in the city of David , and made darts and shields in abundance . * And he set captains of war over the people , and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city , and spake comfortably to them , saying , * Be strong and courageous , be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria , nor for all the multitude that is with him : for there be more with us than with him : * With him is an arm of flesh ; but with us is the LORD our God to help us , and to fight our battles . And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah . * After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem , (but he himself laid siege against Lachish , and all his power with him ,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah , and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem , saying , * Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria , Whereon do ye trust , that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem ? * Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst , saying , The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria ? * Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars , and commanded Judah and Jerusalem , saying , Ye shall worship before one altar , and burn incense upon it ? * Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands ? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand ? * Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed , that could deliver his people out of mine hand , that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand ? * Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you , nor persuade you on this manner , neither yet believe him : for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand , and out of the hand of my fathers : how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand ? * And his servants spake yet more against the LORD God , and against his servant Hezekiah . * He wrote also letters to rail on 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 mine hand , so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand . * Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews ' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall , to affright them , and to trouble them ; that they might take the city . * And they spake against the God of Jerusalem , as against the gods of the people of the earth , which were the work of the hands of man . * And for this cause Hezekiah the king , and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz , prayed and cried to heaven . * And the LORD sent an angel , which 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 was come into the house of his god , they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword . * 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 other , and guided them on every side . * And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem , and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah : so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth . * In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death , and prayed unto the LORD : and he spake unto him , and he gave him a sign . * But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him ; for his heart was lifted up : therefore there was wrath upon him , and upon Judah and Jerusalem . * Notwithstanding 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 . * And Hezekiah had exceeding much 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 ; * Storehouses also for the increase of corn , and wine , and oil ; and stalls for all manner of beasts , and cotes for flocks . * Moreover he provided him cities , and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance : for God had given him substance very much . * 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 . * Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon , who sent unto 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 . * 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 . * And Hezekiah slept with his fathers , and they buried him in the chiefest 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 . * Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign , and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem : * But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD , like unto the abominations of the heathen , whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel . * 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 . * Also he built altars in the house of the LORD , whereof the LORD had said , In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever . * And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD . * 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 familiar spirit , and with wizards : he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD , to provoke him to anger . * 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 : * Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers ; so that 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 . * 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 . * And the LORD spake to Manasseh , and to his people : but they would not hearken . * Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria , which took Manasseh among the thorns , and bound him with fetters , and carried him to Babylon . * And when he was in affliction , he besought the LORD his God , and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers , * And prayed unto him : and he was intreated of him , and heard his supplication , and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom . Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God . * Now after this he built a wall without the city of David , on the west side of Gihon , in the valley , even to the entering in at the fish gate , and compassed about Ophel , and raised it up a very great height , and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah . * And he took away the strange 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 . * And he repaired the altar of the LORD , and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings , and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel . * Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places , yet unto the LORD their God only . * Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh , and his prayer unto his God , and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel , behold , they are written in the book of the kings of Israel . * His prayer also , and how God was intreated of him , and all his sin , and his trespass , and the places wherein he built high places , and set up groves and graven images , before he was humbled : behold , they are written among the sayings of the seers . * So Manasseh slept with his fathers , and they buried him in his own house : and Amon his son reigned in his stead . * Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign , and reigned two years in Jerusalem . * But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD , as did Manasseh his father : for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made , and served them ; * And humbled not himself before the LORD , as Manasseh his father had humbled himself ; but Amon trespassed more and more . * And his servants conspired against him , and slew him in his own house . * But 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 . * Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign , and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years . * And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD , and walked in the ways of David his father , and declined neither to the right hand , nor to the left . * For in the eighth year of his reign , while he was yet young , he began to seek after the God of David his father : and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places , and the groves , and the carved images , and the molten images . * And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence ; and the images , that were on high above them , he cut down ; and the groves , and the carved images , and the molten images , he brake in pieces , and made dust of them , and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them . * And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars , and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem . * And so did he in the cities of Manasseh , and Ephraim , and Simeon , even unto Naphtali , with their mattocks round about . * And when he had broken down the altars and the groves , and had beaten the graven images into powder , and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel , he returned to Jerusalem . * Now in the eighteenth year of his reign , when he had purged the land , and the house , he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah , and Maaseiah the governor of the city , and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder , to repair the house of the LORD his God . * And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest , they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God , which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim , and of all the remnant of Israel , and of all Judah and Benjamin ; and they returned to Jerusalem . * And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD , and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD , to repair and amend the house : * Even to the artificers and builders gave they it , to buy hewn stone , and timber for couplings , and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed . * And the men did the work faithfully : and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah , the Levites , of the sons of Merari ; and Zechariah and Meshullam , of the sons of the Kohathites , to set it forward ; and other of the Levites , all that could skill of instruments of musick . * Also they were over the bearers of burdens , and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service : and of the Levites there were scribes , and officers , and porters . * And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD , Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses . * And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe , I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD . And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan . * And Shaphan carried the book to the king , and brought the king word back again , saying , All that was committed to thy servants , they do it . * And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD , and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers , and to the hand of the workmen . * Then Shaphan the scribe told the king , saying , Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book . And Shaphan read it before the king . * And it came to pass , when the king had heard the words of the law , that he rent his clothes . * And the king commanded Hilkiah , and Ahikam the son of Shaphan , and Abdon the son of Micah , and Shaphan the scribe , and Asaiah a servant of the king 's , saying , * Go , enquire of the LORD for me , and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah , concerning the words of the book that is found : for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us , because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD , to do after all that is written in this book . * And Hilkiah , and they that the king had appointed , went to Huldah the prophetess , the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath , the son of Hasrah , keeper of the wardrobe ; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college :) and they spake to her to that effect . * And she answered them , Thus saith the LORD God of Israel , Tell ye the man that sent you to me , * Thus saith the LORD , Behold , I will bring evil upon this place , and upon the inhabitants thereof , even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah : * 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 poured out upon this place , and shall not be quenched . * And as for the king of Judah , who sent you to enquire of the LORD , so shall ye say unto him , Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard ; * Because thine heart was tender , and thou didst humble thyself before God , when thou heardest his words against this place , and against the inhabitants thereof , and humbledst thyself before me , and didst rend thy clothes , and weep before me ; I have even heard thee also , saith the LORD . * Behold , I will gather thee to thy fathers , and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace , neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place , and upon the inhabitants of the same . So they brought the king word again . * Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem . * And the king went up into the house of the LORD , and all the men of Judah , and the inhabitants of Jerusalem , and the priests , and the Levites , and all the people , great and small : and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD . * And the king stood in his place , 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 his heart , and with all his soul , to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book . * And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it . And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God , the God of their fathers . * And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel , and made all that were present in Israel to serve , even to serve the LORD their God . And all his days they departed not from following the LORD , the God of their fathers . * Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem : and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month .

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