nkjv 2Chronicles:32-34 SEEK
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After these deeds of faithfulness ,
Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah ;
he encamped against the fortified cities ,
thinking to win them over to himself .
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And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come ,
and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem ,
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he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city ;
and they helped him .
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Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land ,
saying , "
Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water ?"
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And he strengthened himself ,
built up all the wall that was broken ,
raised it up to the towers ,
and built another wall outside ;
also he repaired the Millo in the City of David ,
and made weapons and shields in abundance .
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Then he set military captains over the people ,
gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate ,
and gave them encouragement ,
saying ,
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Be strong and courageous ;
do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria ,
nor before all the multitude that is with him ;
for there are more with us than with him .
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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 were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah .
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After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (
but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish ),
to Hezekiah king of Judah ,
and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem ,
saying ,
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Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria : "
In what do you trust ,
that you remain under siege in Jerusalem ?
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Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst ,
saying , "
The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria "?
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Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars ,
and commanded Judah and Jerusalem ,
saying , "
You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it "?
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Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands ?
Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand ?
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Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand ,
that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand ?
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Now therefore ,
do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this ,
and do not believe him ;
for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers .
How much less will your God deliver you from my hand ?"'
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Furthermore ,
his servants spoke against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah .
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He also wrote letters to revile 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 from my hand ,
so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand ."
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Then they called out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall ,
to frighten them and trouble them ,
that they might take the city .
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And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem ,
as against the gods of the people of the earth--the work of men '
s hands .
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Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah ,
the son of Amoz ,
prayed and cried out to heaven .
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Then the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor ,
leader ,
and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria .
So he returned shamefaced to his own land .
And when he had gone into the temple of his god ,
some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there .
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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 .
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And many brought gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem ,
and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah ,
so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter .
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In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death ,
and he prayed to the LORD ;
and He spoke to him and gave him a sign .
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But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him ,
for his heart was lifted up ;
therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem .
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Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart ,
he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ,
so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah .
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Hezekiah had very great riches and honor .
And he made himself treasuries for silver ,
for gold ,
for precious stones ,
for spices ,
for shields ,
and for all kinds of desirable items ;
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storehouses for the harvest of grain ,
wine ,
and oil ;
and stalls for all kinds of livestock ,
and folds for flocks .
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Moreover he provided cities for himself ,
and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance ;
for God had given him very much property .
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This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon ,
and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David .
Hezekiah prospered in all his works .
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However ,
regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon ,
whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land ,
God withdrew from him ,
in order to test him ,
that He might know all that was in his heart .
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Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah ,
and his goodness ,
indeed 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 .
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So Hezekiah rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in the upper tombs of the sons of David ;
and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death .
Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place .
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Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king ,
and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem .
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But he did evil in the sight of the LORD ,
according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel .
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For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down ;
he raised up altars for the Baals ,
and made wooden images ;
and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them .
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He also built altars in the house of the LORD ,
of which the LORD had said , "
In Jerusalem shall My name be forever ."
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And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD .
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Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom ;
he practiced soothsaying ,
used witchcraft and sorcery ,
and consulted mediums and spiritists .
He did much evil in the sight of the LORD ,
to provoke Him to anger .
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He even 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 out of all the tribes of Israel ,
I will put My name forever ;
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and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers--only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them ,
according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses ."
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So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel .
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And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people ,
but they would not listen .
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Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria ,
who took Manasseh with hooks ,
bound him with bronze fetters ,
and carried him off to Babylon .
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Now when he was in affliction ,
he implored the LORD his God ,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers ,
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and prayed to Him ;
and He received his entreaty ,
heard his supplication ,
and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom .
Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God .
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After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon ,
in the valley ,
as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate ;
and it enclosed Ophel ,
and he raised it to a very great height .
Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah .
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He took away the foreign gods and the idol from 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 he cast them out of the city .
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He also repaired the altar of the LORD ,
sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it ,
and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel .
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Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places ,
but only to the LORD their God .
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Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh ,
his prayer to his God ,
and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel ,
indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel .
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Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty ,
and all his sin and trespass ,
and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden images and carved images ,
before he was humbled ,
indeed they are written among the sayings of Hozai .
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So Manasseh rested with his fathers ,
and they buried him in his own house .
Then his son Amon reigned in his place .
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Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king ,
and he reigned two years in Jerusalem .
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But he did evil in the sight of the LORD ,
as his father Manasseh had done ;
for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made ,
and served them .
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And he did not humble himself before the LORD ,
as his father Manasseh had humbled himself ;
but Amon trespassed more and more .
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Then his servants conspired against him ,
and killed him in his own house .
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But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon .
Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place .
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Josiah was eight years old when he became king ,
and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem .
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And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD ,
and walked in the ways of his father David ;
he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left .
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For in the eighth year of his reign ,
while he was still young ,
he began to seek the God of his father David ;
and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places ,
the wooden images ,
the carved images ,
and the molded images .
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They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence ,
and the incense altars which were above them he cut down ;
and the wooden images ,
the carved images ,
and the molded images he broke in pieces ,
and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them .
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He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars ,
and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem .
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And so he did in the cities of Manasseh ,
Ephraim ,
and Simeon ,
as far as Naphtali and all around ,
with axes .
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When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images ,
had beaten the carved images into powder ,
and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel ,
he returned to Jerusalem .
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In the eighteenth year of his reign ,
when he had purged the land and the temple ,
he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah ,
Maaseiah the governor of the city ,
and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder ,
to repair the house of the LORD his God .
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When they came to Hilkiah the high priest ,
they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God ,
which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim ,
from all the remnant of Israel ,
from all Judah and Benjamin ,
and which they had brought back to Jerusalem .
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Then they put it in the hand of the foremen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD ;
and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the LORD ,
to repair and restore the house .
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They gave it to the craftsmen and builders to buy hewn stone and timber for beams ,
and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed .
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And the men did the work faithfully .
Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites ,
of the sons of Merari ,
and Zechariah and Meshullam ,
of the sons of the Kohathites ,
to supervise .
Others of the Levites ,
all of whom were skillful with instruments of music ,
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were over the burden bearers and were overseers of all who did work in any kind of service .
And some of the Levites were scribes ,
officers ,
and gatekeepers .
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Now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD ,
Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given by Moses .
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Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe , "
I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD ."
And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan .
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So Shaphan carried the book to the king ,
bringing the king word ,
saying , "
All that was committed to your servants they are doing .
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And they have gathered the money that was found in the house of the LORD ,
and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen ."
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Then Shaphan the scribe told the king ,
saying , "
Hilkiah the priest has given me a book ."
And Shaphan read it before the king .
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Thus it happened ,
when the king heard the words of the Law ,
that he tore his clothes .
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Then the king commanded Hilkiah ,
Ahikam the son of Shaphan ,
Abdon the son of Micah ,
Shaphan the scribe ,
and Asaiah a servant of the king ,
saying ,
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Go ,
inquire of the LORD for me ,
and for those who are left in Israel and Judah ,
concerning the words of the book that is found ;
for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us ,
because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD ,
to do according to all that is written in this book ."
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So Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess ,
the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath ,
the son of Hasrah ,
keeper of the wardrobe . (
She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter .)
And they spoke to her to that effect .
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Then she answered them , "
Thus says the LORD God of Israel , "
Tell the man who sent you to Me ,
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Thus says the LORD : "
Behold ,
I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants ,
all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah ,
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because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods ,
that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands .
Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place ,
and not be quenched .""
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But as for the king of Judah ,
who sent you to inquire of the LORD ,
in this manner you shall speak to him , "
Thus says the LORD God of Israel : "
Concerning the words which you have heard --
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because your heart was tender ,
and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants ,
and you humbled yourself before Me ,
and you tore your clothes and wept before Me ,
I also have heard you ,"
says the LORD .
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Surely I will gather you to your fathers ,
and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace ;
and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants .""'
So they brought back word to the king .
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Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem .
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The king went up to the house of the LORD ,
with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem--the priests and the Levites ,
and all the people ,
great and small .
And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD .
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Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD ,
to follow the LORD ,
and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul ,
to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book .
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And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand .
So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God ,
the God of their fathers .
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Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel ,
and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the LORD their God .
All his days they did not depart from following the LORD God of their fathers .
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Now Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem ,
and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month .