The Divided Kingdom

And it cometh to pass--Isaiah hath not gone out to the middle court--that the word of Jehovah hath been unto him, saying,

`Turn back, and thou hast said unto Hezekiah, leader of My people: Thus said Jehovah, God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear, lo, I give healing to thee, on the third day thou dost go up to the house of Jehovah;

and I have added to thy days fifteen years, and out of the hand of the king of Asshur I deliver thee and this city, and have covered over this city for Mine own sake, and for the sake of David My servant.'

And Isaiah saith, `Take ye a cake of figs;' and they take and lay it on the boil, and he reviveth.

And Hezekiah saith unto Isaiah, `What is the sign that Jehovah doth give healing to me, that I have gone up on the third day to the house of Jehovah?'

And Isaiah saith, `This is to thee the sign from Jehovah, that Jehovah doth the thing that He hath spoken--The shadow hath gone on ten degrees, or it doth turn back ten degrees?'

And Hezekiah saith, `It hath been light for the shadow to incline ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow turn backward ten degrees.'

And Isaiah the prophet calleth unto Jehovah, and He bringeth back the shadow by the degrees that it had gone down in the degrees of Ahaz--backward ten degrees.

At that time hath Berodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick;

and Hezekiah hearkeneth unto them, and sheweth them all the house of his treasury, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the good ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and all that hath been found in his treasuries; there hath not been a thing that Hezekiah hath not shewed them, in his house, and in all his dominion.

And Isaiah the prophet cometh in unto king Hezekiah, and saith unto him, `What said these men? and whence come they unto thee?' And Hezekiah saith, `From a land afar off they have come--from Babylon.'

And he saith, `What saw they in thy house?' and Hezekiah saith, `All that is in my house they saw; there hath not been a thing that I have not shewed them among my treasures.'

And Isaiah saith unto Hezekiah, `Hear a word of Jehovah:

Lo, days are coming, and borne hath been all that is in thy house, and that thy father have treasured up till this day, to Babylon; there is not left a thing, said Jehovah;

and of thy sons who go out from thee, whom thou begettest, they take away, and they have been eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'

And Hezekiah saith unto Isaiah, `Good is the word of Jehovah that thou hast spoken;' and he saith, `Is it not--if peace and truth are in my days?'

And the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and bringeth in the waters to the city, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And Hezekiah lieth with his fathers, and reign doth Manasseh his son in his stead.

A son of twelve years is Manasseh in his reigning, and fifty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother is Hephzi-Bah;

and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, according to the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel,

and he turneth and buildeth the high places that Hezekiah his father destroyed, and raiseth altars for Baal, and maketh a shrine, as did Ahab king of Israel, and boweth himself to all the host of the heavens, and serveth them.

And he hath built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah said, `In Jerusalem I put My name.'

And he buildeth altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Jehovah;

and he hath caused his son to pass through fire, and observed clouds, and used enchantment, and dealt with a familiar spirit and wizards; he hath multiplied to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah--to provoke to anger.

And he setteth the graven image of the shrine that he made in the house of which Jehovah said unto David and unto Solomon his son, `In this house, and in Jerusalem, that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My name--to the age;