Today's Reading

¹Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.

³He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

⁴He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.

⁵He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him.

⁶For he joined with the Lord; he did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

⁷The Lord was with him; wherever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him.

⁸He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

⁹It happened in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

¹⁰At the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

¹¹The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

¹²because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it.

¹³Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.

¹⁴Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, "I have offended; return from me. That which you put on me, I will bear." The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

¹⁵Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house.

¹⁶At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the Lord's temple, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.

¹⁸When they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

¹⁹Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What confidence is this in which you trust?

²⁰You say (but they are but vain words), 'There is counsel and strength for war.' Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

²¹Now, behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him.

²²But if you tell me, 'We trust in the Lord our God;' isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?'

²³Now therefore, please give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

²⁴How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

²⁵Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"'"

²⁶Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it. Do not speak with us in the Jews' language, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

²⁷But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? Hasn't he sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?"

²⁸Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

²⁹Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand.

³⁰Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah.' For thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern;

³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live, and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, "The Lord will deliver us."

³³Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

³⁵Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

³⁶But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."

³⁷Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, came with Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

¹It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

²He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

³They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

⁴It may be the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall tell your master, 'Thus says the Lord, "Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

⁹When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?

¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?"'"

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, "The Lord, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁶Incline your ear, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent to defy the living God.

¹⁷Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

¹⁸and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

¹⁹Now therefore, the Lord our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God alone."

²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.

²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: "The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

²²Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

²³By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.

²⁴I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.'

²⁵Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

²⁶Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up.

²⁷But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me.

²⁸Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came."

²⁹"'This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

³⁰The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

³¹For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.'

³²"Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 'He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.

³³By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city,' says the Lord.

³⁴'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

³⁵It happened that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.

³⁷It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.'"

²Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,

³"Remember now, Lord, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

⁵"Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

⁶I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake."'"

⁷Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs." They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?"

⁹Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

¹⁰Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps."

¹¹Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

¹²At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

¹³Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? From where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, even from Babylon."

¹⁵He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

¹⁶Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord.

¹⁷'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says the Lord.

¹⁸'Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?"

²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²¹Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

¹"Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make to you."

²When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. He said,

³"I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are this day.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

⁵As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.

⁶It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great light around me.

⁷I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'

⁸I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.'

⁹"Those who were with me indeed saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who spoke to me.

¹⁰I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' The Lord said to me, 'Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.'

¹¹When I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

¹²One Ananias, a devout man according to the Law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus,

¹³came to me, and standing by me said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' In that very hour I looked up at him.

¹⁴He said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

¹⁵For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'

¹⁷"It happened that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance,

¹⁸and saw him saying to me, 'Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.'

¹⁹I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you.

²⁰When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.'

²¹"He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.'"

²²They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice, and said, "Rid the earth of this fellow, for he is not fit to live!"

²³As they yelled, and threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air,

²⁴the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they yelled at him like that.

²⁵When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?"

²⁶When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman!"

²⁷The commanding officer came and asked him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" He said, "Yes."

²⁸The commanding officer answered, "I bought my citizenship for a great price." Paul said, "But I was born a Roman."

²⁹Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him.

³⁰But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Judeans, he freed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

¹Praise Yah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.

²The Lord's works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them.

³His work is honor and majesty. His righteousness endures forever.

⁴He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

⁵He has given food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant.

⁶He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.

⁷The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure.

⁸They are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness.

⁹He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.