4 Kingdoms 19, 20
1 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, the steward, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This is a day of tribulation and rebuke and great anger. For in the time the children are to be born, the mother has no strength. 4 If in any way the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to insult the living God and revile him with words which the Lord your God has heard, perhaps you will offer a prayer concerning the remnant that is found.’ ” 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah appeared before Isaiah, 6 and Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words of blasphemy you heard uttered by the king of Assyria’s servants. 7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will strike him down by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
Assyria Makes Another Threat
8 Having heard the king had departed from Lachish, Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah. 9 And concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, he had heard it being said, “Look! Tirhakah king of Ethiopia has come out to make war with you.” So he returned, but sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Do not let your God in whom you trust exalt you, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Listen! You have heard about what all the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, utterly destroying them, and you think you shall be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations deliver those my fathers destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?”
14 So Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord, 15 and said, “Lord God of Israel, enthroned on the cherubim, You alone are God in all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. 16 O Lord, incline Your ear and hear. O Lord, open Your eyes and see. Hear the words Sennacherib sent to reproach the living God. 17 O Lord, truly the kings of Assyria laid waste the nations 18 and cast the gods of these nations into the fire, because they are not gods, but only the work of men’s hands, of wood and of stone, and they destroyed them. 19 Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You alone are the Lord God.”
Isaiah’s Word to King Hezekiah
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel, ‘I heard the things you prayed concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.’ 21 This is the word which the Lord spoke against Sennacherib king of Assyria: ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despised you, laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem shook her head at you! 22 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice? You lifted up your eyes against the Holy One of Israel! 23 By the hand of your messengers you reproached the Lord and said, “With the multitude of my chariots I came up to the height of the mountains, to the limits of Lebanon, and I shall cut down its tall cedars and its choicest cypress trees, and I entered the midst of the forest of Carmel. 24 I refreshed myself and drank the water of strangers, and with the sole of my foot I desolated all the rivers of defense.” 25 I formed her and made her so strong that she was effectual against fortified cities, 26 and those who lived there were too weak, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field and the green herb, like tender shoots on the housetops and grain blighted before it is grown. 27 But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against Me. 28 Because you rage against Me, and your insolence has come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your noses and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came.’
29 “This shall be a sign to you. This year you shall eat what grows by itself, and in the second year what springs from it. Then in the third year you shall sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 And the remnant of the house of Judah who escaped shall again take root in the soil, and shall bear fruit on its branches. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and he who is being delivered out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 32 Is it not so? Thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor will a shield come before it, nor will he build a siege mound against it. 33 By the way he came, by the same way he shall return. And he shall not come into this city,’ says the Lord. 34 ‘For I will defend this city for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’ ”
35 And it came about that the angel of the Lord went out while it was yet night, and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When they arose early in the morning, all the dead bodies were there. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and left from there. He returned and dwelt in Nineveh. 37 Later it happened, while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon reigned in his place.
Hezekiah Is Sick and Recovers
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Then Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “O Lord, remember how I walked before You in truth, and with a full heart, and did what was good in Your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept with a great wailing.
4 Thus while Isaiah was in the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell 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, and on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”
7 Then Isaiah said, “Let them take a cake of figs and rest it on the boil, and he will recover.” 8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that on the third day I shall go up to the house of the Lord?” 9 And Isaiah said, “This is the sign from the Lord that the Lord shall do what He said. Either the shadow of the sundial will move forward ten degrees, or should it go backward ten degrees?” 10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow on the dial to move forward ten degrees. Therefore, let the shadow return and go backward ten degrees.” 11 So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and the shadow on the dial went backward ten degrees.
Ambassadors from Babylon
12 At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah because he heard Hezekiah was sick. 13 So Hezekiah rejoiced in them and showed to these messengers all the house of his treasures—the silver and the gold, the spices and good olive oil, even the house of his vessels—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.” 15 He said, “What did they see in your house?” So he answered, “They saw everything in my house. There was nothing in my house I did not show them, even what is in my treasuries.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord, 17 ‘Behold, the days are coming when everything in your house, and what your fathers accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. 18 ‘And as for your descendants, your sons, Babylon shall take them, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” 19 So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Good is the word of the Lord which He spoke. Let there be peace in my days.”
King Hezekiah Dies
20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, all his might, and how he made a reservoir and an aqueduct, and how he brought water into the city, are these things not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 21 So Hezekiah rested with his fathers. And he was buried in the city of David. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
Psalms 108:21–31
21 But You, O Lord, O Lord, deal mercifully with me for Your name’s sake,
For Your mercy is good.
22 Save me, for I am poor and needy,
And my heart is troubled within me.
23 I was removed like a shadow when it declines;
I was shaken off like the locusts.
24 My knees were weak from fasting,
And my flesh was changed because of the oil.
25 And I became an object of reproach to them;
They saw me; they shook their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God;
Save me according to Your mercy;
27 Then let them know this is Your hand,
And You, O Lord, did this.
28 They themselves shall curse, but You shall bless;
Let those who rise up against me be put to shame,
But let Your servant be glad.
29 Let those who falsely accuse me be clothed with shame,
And let them be covered with their dishonor like a double cloak.
30 I will give thanks to the Lord abundantly with my mouth,
And in the midst of many I will praise Him,
31 Because He stood at the right hand of a poor man,
To save me from those who persecute my soul.
Proverbs 24:7–12
7 Wisdom and good thinking are in the gates of the wise;
The wise do not turn away from the mouth of the Lord,
But they deliberate with councils;
8 Death happens to the uninstructed,
And a man without discernment shall die in his sins;
9 And uncleanness will pollute a pestilent man
In an evil day and a day of tribulation, until he dies.
10 Rescue those being led into death,
And saw off the bonds of those being cast out; do not spare them help;
11 If you say, “I do not know this man,”
Know that the Lord knows the hearts of all;
12 And He who formed every breath knows all things,
Who will render to each man according to his works.
John 4:27–54
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
35 “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 “And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 “For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Welcome at Galilee
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.
44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
A Nobleman’s Son Healed
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.