Moff 2 CHR Chapter 32

◄ 2 CHR 32 ► ║ ═ ©

32 It was after this, after all this loyal service, that Sancherib king of Assyria invaded Judah, besieging the fortified towns and meaning to seize them. 2 When Hezekiah saw that Sancherib had come determined to attack Jerusalem, 3 he and his nobles and his chiefs agreed to stop the water of the fountains outside the town. He was helped by them; 4 indeed, a crowd collected and stopped up all the fountains as well as the torrent that gushed through the country, crying, “Why should Assyrian kings find plenty of water when they come?” 5 Hezekiah, taking heart, built up any part of the wall that had been broken, built towers on the wall, and ran another wall outside; he strengthened the Millo in David’s burg, and provided ample missiles and shields.

6 Then, appointing officers over the citizens, he gathered them in the open space at the gate of the city, and encouraged them. 7 “Be firm,” he said, “be brave, be not daunted nor dismayed for the king of Assyria or for all his host; we have with us One greater than all he has; 8 he has a mortal force, but we have with us the Eternal our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” The people put reliance on what Hezekiah king of Judah said. 9 After this, as Sancherib king of Assyria and all his forces lay near Lakhish, he sent some of his officers to Jerusalem, with this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and all the men of Judah at Jerusalem: 10 “Sancherib king of Assyria asks you what you are relying on, to stand a siege in Jerusalem. 11 Surely Hezekiah is beguiling you; he means to leave you to perish of famine and thirst, by telling you that the Eternal your God will save you from the king of Assyria. 12 Has not this very Hezekiah removed the Eternal’s shrines and altars, and ordered Judah and Jerusalem to worship and to burn incense at a single altar? 13 Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all nations elsewhere in the world? Have the gods of these nations been able at all to save their lands from me? 14 What god of any nation exterminated by my fathers was ever able to save his people from me? And is your God able to save you from me? 15 Come, do not let Hezekiah delude you or beguile you like this; do not believe him. No god of any nation or realm has been able to save his people from me or from my fathers; much less shall your gods.”

16 His officers said even worse things against God the Eternal and his servant Hezekiah. 17 (Sancherib also wrote letters, insulting the Eternal the God of Israel and attacking him thus: “As the gods of the nations elsewhere in the world have failed to save their folk from me, so shall Hezekiah’s God fail to save his folk.”) 18 The officers shouted aloud in Hebrew to the citizens of Jerusalem on the walls, to terrify them and scare them, that they might capture the city. 19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem as one of the gods of the nations on earth, mere hand-made idols! 20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed over this and cried to heaven; 21 then the Eternal sent an angel who swept off all the gallant fighters, the leaders, and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria, till he had to go home in disgrace. He went into the temple of his god, and there his own offspring murdered him with their swords. 22 So the Eternal rescued Hezekiah and the citizens of Jerusalem from Sancherib the king of Assyria as well as from all other foes, protecting them on every side. 23 Indeed, many folk brought presents to the Eternal in Jerusalem and rare gifts to Hezekiah king of Judah, till he was of high repute among all nations, from now onwards.

24 Then it was that Hezekiah fell dangerously ill; he prayed to the Eternal, who answered him and let him have a miraculous token of recovery. 25 But Hezekiah made no return for the benefit thus bestowed on him; he proved haughty, and this brought wrath on himself and upon Judah and Jerusalem. 26 However, Hezekiah humbled himself in penitence for his haughty pride, both he and the citizens of Jerusalem, so that during the reign of Hezekiah the wrath of the Eternal did not fall upon them.

27 Hezekiah had enormous wealth and honour; he supplied himself with treasuries to hold silver, gold, jewels, spices, rarities, and all kinds of handsome articles, 28 also stores for the influx of grain, wine, and oil, barns for all kinds of cattle, and pens for sheep; 29 he acquired enormous numbers of flocks and herds, for God gave him rich possessions. 30 It was Hezekiah who stopped the spring that fed the Gihon water, and directed the water down westward to David’s burg: Hezekiah succeeded in all that he undertook. 31 (In the case of the ambassadors who had been sent by the princes of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous token which had happened in his land, God tested him by leaving him to himself, that He might find out all that was in his mind.)

32 The rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his pious deeds are described in the Vision of the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz and in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 33 Hezekiah slept with his fathers and was buried in the upper part of the tombs of the sons of David; all Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem paid him honour when he died. Manasseh his son reigned instead of him.

2 CHR C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36

Moff 2 CHR Chapter 32

Moff 2 CHR Chapter 32