Study Desk

Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted in Hebrew: Listen to what the great king of Assyria says!

for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards, raise your own grain, and have plenty of olive oil and honey. Believe me, you won't starve there. Hezekiah claims the Lord will save you. But don't be fooled by him.

These are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born.

Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.

he told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah: I am the Lord . Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria.

About this same time the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:

After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see.

I have seen your pride and the tremendous hatred you have for me. Now I will put a hook in your nose, a bit in your mouth, then I will send you back to where you came from.

I will protect it for myself and for my servant David.

"It's normal for the sun to go forward," Hezekiah answered. "But how can it go back?"

Isaiah prayed, and the Lord made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway built for King Ahaz.

Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah had been sick, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him.

Then Isaiah told Hezekiah: I have a message for you from the Lord .

Hezekiah thought, "At least our nation will be at peace for a while." So he told Isaiah, "The message you brought me from the Lord is good."

He rebuilt the local shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He built altars for the god Baal and set up a sacred pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. And he faithfully worshiped the stars in heaven.

In the temple, where only the Lord was supposed to be worshiped, Manasseh built altars for pagan gods

and for the stars. He placed these altars in both courts of the temple,

and even set up the pole for Asherah there. Manasseh practiced magic and witchcraft; he asked fortunetellers for advice and sacrificed his own son. He did many sinful things and made the Lord very angry. Years ago the Lord had told David and his son Solomon: Jerusalem is the place I prefer above all others in Israel. It belongs to me, and there I will be worshiped forever.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for two years. His mother Meshullemeth was the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.

After Josiah had been king for eighteen years, he told Shaphan, one of his highest officials: Go to the Lord 's temple