Study Desk

'It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. So offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left [in Judah].'"

"Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem shall not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

"O LORD, bend down Your ear and hear; LORD, open Your eyes and see; hear the [taunting] words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt and defy the living God.

"Now, O LORD our God, please, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know [without any doubt] that You alone, O LORD, are God."

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I have heard your prayer to Me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria.'

'Have you not heard [asks the God of Israel]? Long ago I did it; From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

"Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father (ancestor): "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such catastrophe on Jerusalem and Judah, that everyone who hears of it, both of his ears will ring [from the shock].

he abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.

She said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me,

"But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, you shall say this to him: 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Regarding the words which you have heard,

And as Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and had the bones taken from the graves, and burned them on the altar and [thereby] desecrated it, in accordance with the word of the LORD which the man of God prophesied, who proclaimed these things [about this altar, naming Josiah before he was born].

Then Josiah said, "What is this monument (gravestone) that I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done to the altar of Bethel."

Then the king commanded all the people, saying, "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this book of the covenant."

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my border [property], and that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil so that it does not hurt me!" And God granted his request.

They were given help against them, and the Hagrites were handed over to them, and all who were allied with them; for they cried out to God [for help] in the battle; and He granted their entreaty because they relied on and trusted in Him.

For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was of God. And these Israelites settled in their territory until the exile [by Assyria more than five centuries later].

But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the prostitute with the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.