1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3“Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5“Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the house of the Lord. 6I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”

7 Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered.

8 Now Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?”

9 And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

10“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.”

11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

12 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness. 13And Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his treasure house — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his armory— all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

14 Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?”

“They came from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”

15“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked.

“They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

19 But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Will there not at least be peace and security in my lifetime?”

20 As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, along with all his might and how he constructed the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

21 And Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2And he did evil in the sight of the Lord by following the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.

4 Manasseh also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.” 5In both courtyards of the house of the Lord, he built altars to all the host of heaven. 6He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

7 Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the Lord had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever. 8I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they are careful to do all I have commanded them— the whole Law that My servant Moses commanded them.”

9 But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

10 And the Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11“Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin, 12this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.

13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl— wiping it and turning it upside down. 14So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, 15because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’”

16 Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

17 As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

18 And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place.

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. 20And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. 21He walked in all the ways of his father, and he served and worshiped the idols his father had served. 22He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.

23 Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. 24But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

25 As for the rest of the acts of Amon, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.

1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. 2And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

18The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were present. 19Paul greeted them and recounted one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

20 When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs. 22What then should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.

23 Therefore do what we advise you. There are four men with us who have taken a vow. 24Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.

25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

26 So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them.

27 When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. 31While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil. 32Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

33 The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. 35When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36For the crowd that followed him kept shouting, “Away with him!”