Study Desk

He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil-

he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be the mountain fortress; his food will be provided and his water assured.

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.

Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of these will go missing, not one will lack her mate, because He has ordered it by His mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.

He has allotted their portion; His hand has distributed it by measure. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,

Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"

On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.

Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives."

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

And now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God."

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys and showed them what was in his treasure house-the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory-everything that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.

He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?