Then 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! ... Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. ... Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. ... Has any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ... But the people held their peace and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ... It may be the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord your God has heard.
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ... And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall you say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. ... And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he has come out to fight against you — he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. ... Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shall you be delivered? ... Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?
Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands — wood and stone.
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. ... Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went, and returned and dwelled at Nineveh.
On the third day, you shall go up unto the house of the Lord, and I will add unto your days fifteen years, and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.
At that time, Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? ... And of your sons that shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
And the Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. ... And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. ... Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people, and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord.
And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again and said, Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. ... And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book. ... And Shaphan read it before the king.
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. ... And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah, a servant of the king’s, saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found.
And she said unto them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. ... But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: As touching the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender, and you have humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have rent your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. ... And they brought the king word again.
And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. ... And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. ... And the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven. ... And he put down the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. ... And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the chamberlain which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ... And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord did the king beat down, and broke them down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. ... And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. ... Surely there was not held such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah, but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah wherein this passover was held to the Lord in Jerusalem. ... And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ... In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up alongside the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and king Josiah went against him, and he slew him at Megiddo when he had seen him. ... And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.
And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king, in the place of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there.