2 KINGS 19

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Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah  19:1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’” Sennacherib Defies the Lord8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’” Hezekiah’s Prayer14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

“She despises you, she scorns you—

the virgin daughter of Zion;

she wags her head behind you—

the daughter of Jerusalem.
22

“Whom have you mocked and reviled?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes to the heights?

Against the Holy One of Israel! 23

By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,

and you have said, ‘With my many chariots

I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon;

I felled its tallest cedars,

its choicest cypresses;

I entered its farthest lodging place,

its most fruitful forest. 24

I dug wells

and drank foreign waters,

and I dried up with the sole of my foot

all the streams of Egypt.’
25

“Have you not heard

that I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old

what now I bring to pass,

that you should turn fortified cities

into heaps of ruins, 26

while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

are dismayed and confounded,

and have become like plants of the field

and like tender grass,

like grass on the housetops,

blighted before it is grown.
27

“But I know your sitting down

and your going out and coming in,

and your raging against me. 28

Because you have raged against me

and your complacency has come into my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth,

and I will turn you back on the way

by which you came.
    29 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this.
    32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
    35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

2 KINGS 20

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Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery  20:1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And 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; you shall not recover.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader 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, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. 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.” 7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”
    8 And Hezekiah 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 on the third day?” 9 And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz. Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys12 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” 15 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
    16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 18 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”
    20 The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

PROVERBS 16

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16:1

The plans of the heart belong to man,

but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. 2

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirit. 3

Commit your work to the Lord,

and your plans will be established. 4

The Lord has made everything for its purpose,

even the wicked for the day of trouble. 5

Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;

be assured, he will not go unpunished. 6

By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,

and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil. 7

When a man’s ways please the Lord,

he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. 8

Better is a little with righteousness

than great revenues with injustice. 9

The heart of man plans his way,

but the Lord establishes his steps. 10

An oracle is on the lips of a king;

his mouth does not sin in judgment. 11

A just balance and scales are the Lord’s;

all the weights in the bag are his work. 12

It is an abomination to kings to do evil,

for the throne is established by righteousness. 13

Righteous lips are the delight of a king,

and he loves him who speaks what is right. 14

A king’s wrath is a messenger of death,

and a wise man will appease it. 15

In the light of a king’s face there is life,

and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain. 16

How much better to get wisdom than gold!

To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. 17

The highway of the upright turns aside from evil;

whoever guards his way preserves his life. 18

Pride goes before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19

It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor

than to divide the spoil with the proud. 20

Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,

and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. 21

The wise of heart is called discerning,

and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness. 22

Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,

but the instruction of fools is folly. 23

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious

and adds persuasiveness to his lips. 24

Gracious words are like a honeycomb,

sweetness to the soul and health to the body. 25

There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way to death. 26

A worker’s appetite works for him;

his mouth urges him on. 27

A worthless man plots evil,

and his speech is like a scorching fire. 28

A dishonest man spreads strife,

and a whisperer separates close friends. 29

A man of violence entices his neighbor

and leads him in a way that is not good. 30

Whoever winks his eyes plans dishonest things;

he who purses his lips brings evil to pass. 31

Gray hair is a crown of glory;

it is gained in a righteous life. 32

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,

and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. 33

The lot is cast into the lap,

but its every decision is from the Lord.

PSALM 70

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O Lord, Do Not DelayTo the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.
70:1

Make haste, O God, to deliver me!

O Lord, make haste to help me! 2

Let them be put to shame and confusion

who seek my life!

Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt! 3

Let them turn back because of their shame

who say, “Aha, Aha!”
4

May all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you!

May those who love your salvation

say evermore, “God is great!” 5

But I am poor and needy;

hasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay!