Psalm 94

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The Lord Will Not Forsake His People


O Lord, God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, shine forth!
2
Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay to the proud what they deserve!
3
O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
4
They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
5
They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage.
6
They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless;
7
and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

8
Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
9
He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10
He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge⁠—
11
the Lord⁠—knows the thoughts of man,
that they are but a breath.

12
Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord,
and whom you teach out of your law,
13
to give him rest from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14
For the Lord will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage;
15
for justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16
Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17
If the Lord had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18
When I thought, “My foot slips,”
your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19
When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
20
Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who frame injustice by statute?
21
They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
22
But the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23
He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.

2 Kings 20

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Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

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 Envoys

12 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.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.