¹⁸ On the following day Paul went in with us to ^(A)James, and all ^(B)the elders were present. ¹⁹ After greeting them, ^(C)he related one by one ^(D)the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ^(E)ministry. ²⁰ And when they heard it, they ^(F)glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all ^(G)zealous for the law, ²¹ and they have been told about you that you teach all ^(H)the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, ^(I)telling them ^(J)not to circumcise their children or ^(K)walk according to ^(L)our customs. ²² What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men ^(M)who are under a vow; ²⁴ take these men and ^(N)purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, ^(O)so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. ²⁵ But as for the Gentiles who have believed, ^(P)we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled,^[a] and from sexual immorality.” ²⁶ Then Paul took the men, and the next day ^(Q)he purified himself along with them and ^(R)went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and ^(S)the offering presented for each one of them.

Paul Arrested in the Temple

²⁷ When ^(T)the seven days were almost completed, ^(U)the Jews from Asia, ^(V)seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who ^(W)is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and ^(X)the law and ^(Y)this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and ^(Z)has defiled ^(AA)this holy place.” ²⁹ For they had previously seen ^(AB)Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. ³⁰ Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and ^(AC)dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. ^31 (AD)And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of ^(AE)the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ^32 (AF)He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him ^(AG)to be bound ^(AH)with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. ^34 (AI)Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into ^(AJ)the barracks. ³⁵ And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, ³⁶ for the mob of the people followed, crying out, ^(AK)“Away with him!”

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20 ^(A)In those days ^(B)Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(C)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ “Now, O Lord, ^(D)please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and ^(E)with a whole heart, ^(F)and have done what is good in your sight.” ^(G)And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah ^(H)the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(I)I have heard your prayer; ^(J)I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, ⁶ and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, ^(K)and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” ⁷ And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “This shall be ^(L)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow ^(M)to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, ^(N)and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

^12 (O)At that time ^(P)Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(Q)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³ And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them ^(R)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵ He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ Behold, the days are coming, when ^(S)all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ^18 (T)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, ^(U)and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(V)“The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

^20 (W)The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made ^(X)the pool and the conduit ^(Y)and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^21 (Z)And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

21 ^(AA)Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AB)according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(AC)that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made ^(AD)an Asherah, ^(AE)as Ahab king of Israel had done, ^(AF)and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (AG)And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(AH)“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” ⁵ And he built altars ^(AI)for all the host of heaven in ^(AJ)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (AK)And he burned his son as an offering^[a] and ^(AL)used fortune-telling and ^(AM)omens and dealt ^(AN)with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And the carved image of ^(AO)Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, ^(AP)and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ^8 (AQ)And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Idolatry Denounced

¹⁰ And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, ^11 (AR)“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things ^(AS)more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, ^(AT)and has made Judah also to sin ^(AU)with his idols, ¹² therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster^[b] that the ears of everyone who hears of it ^(AV)will tingle. ^13 (AW)And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

^16 (AX)Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin ^(AY)that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

^17 (AZ)Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^18 (BA)And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, ^(BB)in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(BC)as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹ He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served ^(BD)the idols that his father served and worshiped them. ^22 (BE)He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³ And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. ²⁴ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ And he was buried in his tomb ^(BF)in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

Josiah Reigns in Judah

22 ^(BG)Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of ^(BH)Bozkath. ² And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, ^(BI)and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Let Everything Praise the Lord