Hashta's tvicieJ reign. Chap.

16 Thus did (Jrijah the priest according to all that king Ahaz commanded.

17 % And king Ahaz cut otf the borders or" the bales, and removed the laver from off them; and'took down the lea fromolf the brasen oxen that iuere muter it, and put it upon a pavement of stones.

13 And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the houle, and the king's entry witiiout, turned he from the house of the 1.0*0, for the king of Assyria.

19 «[ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which, he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings ofJudah?

*o And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his Ion reigned in his stead.

CHAP. XV'II. 1 Hoshea's •wicked reign. 5 Samaria for

their fins is Captivated. 1+ she firange

nations, being plagued tuith lions, make

a mixture ot religions.

IN the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Holhea the Ion of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine yearsi

a And he did that which nvas evil in the light of the Loud, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

3 Against him caine up Shalmaneser king of Assyria 1 and Homea became his servant, and gave him presents.

4. And the King of Assyria found conspiracy in Holhea: for he had lent messengers to So kingof Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had date year- by year: therefore the king of Assyria (hut him up, and bound him inprison.

5 ^ Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6 In the ninth year of Holhea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried 11rael away into Allyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor, by the river of Cozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

- For/o it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the band of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

* And walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that iuere not right against the Lo K D then; God, and they built them

xvii. Israel's captivity.

high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

10 And they let them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

n And there they b.nnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:

li for they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye lhail not do this thing.

1} Yet the .lord testified against Ilrael, and againlt Judah, by all the prophets, andby all the leers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my command,, inents and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your lathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.

15 And they reeled his statutes, and his covenant that lie made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them : and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lor D had charged them that they Ihould not do like them.

16 And they left all the commandments of the Lor D their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worlhipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

17 And they caused their Ions and their daughters to pals through the fire, and uled divination and enenantments, and fold themselves to do evil in the light of the Lor D, to provoke him to anger.

18 Therefore the Lor D was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his light: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19 Allb Judah kept not the command, mentsofthe Lord theirGod,but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

■xo And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

11 For he rent Urael from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drayc Israelfrom following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin.

ai For the children of Israel walked in

all the sins of Jeroboam which he did;

Z 4 they they departed not from them;

23 Until the Lo R D removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

2+^J And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities ot Samaria, instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

25 Andyi it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord : therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which fiewfome of them.

16 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God 6f the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let hjm teach them the manner of the God of the land.

28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they mould fear the Lord.

29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-bcnoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Aslinna,

31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.

31 So they feared the Lor D, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

33 They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

3+ Unto this day they do after the former manners: theyfearnottheLor D, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Isi-acl;'

35 With whom the Lor D had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

36 But the Lo R D,who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him sliall ye fear, and him (hall ye worship, and to him ihall ye do sacrifice.

37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment which he wrote for you, ye stiall observe to do for evermore; and ye lhall not fear other gods.

38 And the covenant that I have made with you ye sliall not forget; neither mail ye fear other gods.

39 But the Lord ^our God ye sliall fear; and he stiall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

+0 Howbeit they did not hearken j but they did after their former manner.

41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children and their children's children : as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

CHAP. XVIII. 1 Heaekiah's good reign. 4 He dtstroyeth

idolatry, andprojpereth. 9 Samaria is

carried captive for their fins.

NO W it came to pass in the third year of Holhea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign: and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did that which <was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.

4 fj He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the childrenof Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehustitan.

5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

6 For he clave to the Lord, emddeparted not from following him, but kept hiS commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses._

7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.

t He

Hezekiah mourneth,

and is comforted.

unto Hezekiah, when he persuadetb you, faying, The Lord will deliver us.

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arp.id? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Htna, and Ivah ? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

35 Who are they among ail the gods ost'ic countries, thathavcnelivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord Ihould deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which <was over the houlhold, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-sliakeh.

CHAP. XIX. 1 Hezekiah mourning, fenJeth to Isaiah to fray for them. 6 He comforteih them. 8 Sennacheribsendeth a blasphemous let. ter to Hezeliah. iq.Hezekiali sprayer. 34 An angel Jlayetk the Assyrians. 36 Sennacherib isjlain by his sons.

AND it came to pal's, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himlelf with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

» And he sent Eliakim, which was over the houlhold, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

3 And they said unto him, Thus faith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rab-stiakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy. God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy* prayer for the remnant that are left.

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 fl And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye fay to your master, Thus faith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him,

and he (hall hear a rumour, and mail return to his own land ;-and I will caule him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 qj So Rab-lhakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachisli.

9 And when he heard fay of Tijhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

Jo Thus lhall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, laying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerulalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and ihalt thou be delivered?

iz Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which •were in Thelafar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

14 f And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up inrothe house of the Lo R D , and spread it before, the Lo R D .

15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lo R D, and said, Olord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, etien thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lor D, thine eyes, and fee; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

19 Now therefore, O Lor D our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God} even thou only.

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus faith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hafr prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

21 This is the word thai the Lord hath

spoken His prayer answered. Chap

spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter ot" Zion aath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

1: Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even again (I the Holy One of Israel.

23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lo Rd, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I w;ill enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

24.I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have 1 dried up all the rivers of besieged places. 15 Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou lhouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of tilt field, and as the green herb, as the grals on the house tops, and at corn bialied before it be grown up.

27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook into thy »o!e, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest.

19 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye fliall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the lame; and in the third year sow ye aud reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

j a Therefore thus faith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He fliall not come into this city, nor (hoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

33 By the way that he came, by the fame (nail he return, and fliall not come into this city, faith the LoR p.

xx. fiezekiah'ssickness andrecovery.

3+ For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own lake, and for my servant David's fake.

3 5 «J And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand.: aud when they arose early in the morn, ing, behold, they ivere all dead corpses.

36 fl So Sennacherib king of Allyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

CHAP. XX. 1 Hezekiah receiving a message os death, by prayer hath his life lengthened. 8 The fun goeth ten degrees back-ward for a stgn. 20 Manassehsucceedeth Hezekiah.

IN those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus faith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou (halt die, and not live.

2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, faying,

3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that ixjhich is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah wai gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus faith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou stialt go up unto the house of the Lord.

6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand ofthe king of Ally, ria; and I will defend this city for mine own lake,and for my servant David's fake.

7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8 ij And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?

9 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lo R D> will do the thing that he hath spoken: fliall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?