Podcast appearances and mentions of king hezekiah

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 130 Psalm 130 (Listen) My Soul Waits for the Lord A Song of Ascents. 130   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!2     O Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive    to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,    O Lord, who could stand?4   But with you there is forgiveness,    that you may be feared. 5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,    and in his word I hope;6   my soul waits for the Lord    more than watchmen for the morning,    more than watchmen for the morning. 7   O Israel, hope in the LORD!    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,    and with him is plentiful redemption.8   And he will redeem Israel    from all his iniquities. (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 16–17 Job 16–17 (Listen) Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You 16 Then Job answered and said: 2   “I have heard many such things;    miserable comforters are you all.3   Shall windy words have an end?    Or what provokes you that you answer?4   I also could speak as you do,    if you were in my place;  I could join words together against you    and shake my head at you.5   I could strengthen you with my mouth,    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. 6   “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,    and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?7   Surely now God has worn me out;    he has1 made desolate all my company.8   And he has shriveled me up,    which is a witness against me,  and my leanness has risen up against me;    it testifies to my face.9   He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;    he has gnashed his teeth at me;    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.10   Men have gaped at me with their mouth;    they have struck me insolently on the cheek;    they mass themselves together against me.11   God gives me up to the ungodly    and casts me into the hands of the wicked.12   I was at ease, and he broke me apart;    he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;  he set me up as his target;13     his archers surround me.  He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;    he pours out my gall on the ground.14   He breaks me with breach upon breach;    he runs upon me like a warrior.15   I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin    and have laid my strength in the dust.16   My face is red with weeping,    and on my eyelids is deep darkness,17   although there is no violence in my hands,    and my prayer is pure. 18   “O earth, cover not my blood,    and let my cry find no resting place.19   Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,    and he who testifies for me is on high.20   My friends scorn me;    my eye pours out tears to God,21   that he would argue the case of a man with God,    as2 a son of man does with his neighbor.22   For when a few years have come    I shall go the way from which I shall not return. Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope? 17   “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;    the graveyard is ready for me.2   Surely there are mockers about me,    and my eye dwells on their provocation. 3   “Lay down a pledge for me with you;    who is there who will put up security for me?4   Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,    therefore you will not let them triumph.5   He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—    the eyes of his children will fail. 6   “He has made me a byword of the peoples,    and I am one before whom men spit.7   My eye has grown dim from vexation,    and all my members are like a shadow.8   The upright are appalled at this,    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.9   Yet the righteous holds to his way,    and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.10   But you, come on again, all of you,    and I shall not find a wise man among you.11   My days are past; my plans are broken off,    the desires of my heart.12   They make night into day:    ‘The light,' they say, ‘is near to the darkness.'313   If I hope for Sheol as my house,    if I make my bed in darkness,14   if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,'    and to the worm, ‘My mother,' or ‘My sister,'15   where then is my hope?    Who will see my hope?16   Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?    Shall we descend together into the dust?”4 Footnotes [1] 16:7 Hebrew you have; also verse 8 [2] 16:21 Hebrew and [3] 17:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [4] 17:16 Or Will they go down to the bars of Sheol? Is rest to be found together in the dust? (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 39 Isaiah 39 (Listen) Envoys from Babylon 39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole 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. 3 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?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when 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. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.” (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Jude Jude (Listen) Greeting 1 Jude, a servant1 of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for2 Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Judgment on False Teachers 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved3 a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire,4 serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs5 at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. 14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. A Call to Persevere 17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They6 said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment7 stained by the flesh. Doxology 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time8 and now and forever. Amen. Footnotes [1] 1:1 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface [2] 1:1 Or by [3] 1:5 Some manuscripts although you fully knew it, that the Lord who once saved [4] 1:7 Greek different flesh [5] 1:12 Or are blemishes [6] 1:18 Or Christ, because they [7] 1:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [8] 1:25 Or before any age (ESV)

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 128 Psalm 128 (Listen) Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord A Song of Ascents. 128   Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,    who walks in his ways!2   You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. 3   Your wife will be like a fruitful vine    within your house;  your children will be like olive shoots    around your table.4   Behold, thus shall the man be blessed    who fears the LORD. 5   The LORD bless you from Zion!    May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem    all the days of your life!6   May you see your children's children!    Peace be upon Israel! (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 14 Job 14 (Listen) Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All 14   “Man who is born of a woman    is few of days and full of trouble.2   He comes out like a flower and withers;    he flees like a shadow and continues not.3   And do you open your eyes on such a one    and bring me into judgment with you?4   Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?    There is not one.5   Since his days are determined,    and the number of his months is with you,    and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,6   look away from him and leave him alone,1    that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day. 7   “For there is hope for a tree,    if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,    and that its shoots will not cease.8   Though its root grow old in the earth,    and its stump die in the soil,9   yet at the scent of water it will bud    and put out branches like a young plant.10   But a man dies and is laid low;    man breathes his last, and where is he?11   As waters fail from a lake    and a river wastes away and dries up,12   so a man lies down and rises not again;    till the heavens are no more he will not awake    or be roused out of his sleep.13   Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,    that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!14   If a man dies, shall he live again?    All the days of my service I would wait,    till my renewal2 should come.15   You would call, and I would answer you;    you would long for the work of your hands.16   For then you would number my steps;    you would not keep watch over my sin;17   my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,    and you would cover over my iniquity. 18   “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,    and the rock is removed from its place;19   the waters wear away the stones;    the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;    so you destroy the hope of man.20   You prevail forever against him, and he passes;    you change his countenance, and send him away.21   His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;    they are brought low, and he perceives it not.22   He feels only the pain of his own body,    and he mourns only for himself.” Footnotes [1] 14:6 Probable reading; Hebrew look away from him, that he may cease [2] 14:14 Or relief (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 36–37 Isaiah 36–37 (Listen) Sennacherib Invades Judah 36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh1 from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder. 4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”'” 11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” 13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me2 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'” 21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help 37 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'” 8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush,3 “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'” Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16 “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.” Sennacherib's Fall 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:   “‘She despises you, she scorns you—    the virgin daughter of Zion;  she wags her head behind you—    the daughter of Jerusalem. 23   “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?    Against whom have you raised your voice  and lifted your eyes to the heights?    Against the Holy One of Israel!24   By your servants you have mocked the Lord,    and you have said, With my many chariots  I have gone up the heights of the mountains,    to the far recesses of Lebanon,  to cut down its tallest cedars,    its choicest cypresses,  to come to its remotest height,    its most fruitful forest.25   I dug wells    and drank waters,  to dry up with the sole of my foot    all the streams of Egypt. 26   “‘Have you not heard    that I determined it long ago?  I planned from days of old    what now I bring to pass,  that you should make fortified cities    crash into heaps of ruins,27   while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,    are dismayed and confounded,  and have become like plants of the field    and like tender grass,  like grass on the housetops,    blighted4 before it is grown. 28   “‘I know your sitting down    and your going out and coming in,    and your raging against me.29   Because you have raged against me    and your complacency has come to my ears,  I will put my hook in your nose    and my bit in your mouth,  and I will turn you back on the way    by which you came.' 30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. 33 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” 36 And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. Footnotes [1] 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer [2] 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me [3] 37:9 Probably Nubia [4] 37:27 Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts a field (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: 2 John 2 John (Listen) Greeting 1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. Walking in Truth and Love 4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we1 have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Final Greetings 12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you. Footnotes [1] 1:8 Some manuscripts you (ESV)

Title: "From Heart Aflame to Hearts Adrift: Navigating Spiritual Transitions Across Generations" Description: Join pastors Wade Lentz and Harold Smith on a thought-provoking journey through the ebbs and flows of spiritual fervor across generations. In this episode of "The Patriot Pastor's Podcast," they delve into the fascinating contrast between the spiritual fervency of one generation and the spiritual drift of its successors. Drawing parallels from historical figures such as King Hezekiah and his son Manasseh, the conversation explores the poignant reality of how even the most fervently devoted hearts can give way to spiritual coldness in successive eras. From the unwavering faith of the Pilgrims to the disheartening narrative of their children's waning connection with God, the pastors unravel the intricate dynamics at play in the intergenerational transmission of faith. Central to their discussion is the impactful saga of the First Great Awakening and its profound reverberations across America. They unpack how this revivalist movement stirred the hearts of many, yet ponder the challenges in sustaining such fervor across generations. Tune in as Pastors Wade and Harold candidly dissect the complexities of spiritual inheritance, reflecting on historical junctures where hearts aflame transitioned to hearts adrift. Gain insights into the pivotal moments that shaped America's spiritual landscape and explore the enduring relevance of these lessons in navigating contemporary spiritual journeys. Join the conversation on "The Patriot Pastor's Podcast" as they delve deep into the historical tapestry of faith, illuminating the intricate interplay between spiritual passion and generational transitions.

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 112 Psalm 112 (Listen) The Righteous Will Never Be Moved 112   1 Praise the LORD!  Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,    who greatly delights in his commandments!2   His offspring will be mighty in the land;    the generation of the upright will be blessed.3   Wealth and riches are in his house,    and his righteousness endures forever.4   Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;    he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.5   It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;    who conducts his affairs with justice.6   For the righteous will never be moved;    he will be remembered forever.7   He is not afraid of bad news;    his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.8   His heart is steady;2 he will not be afraid,    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.9   He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;    his righteousness endures forever;    his horn is exalted in honor.10   The wicked man sees it and is angry;    he gnashes his teeth and melts away;    the desire of the wicked will perish! Footnotes [1] 112:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet [2] 112:8 Or established (compare 111:8) (ESV) Pentateuch and History: 2 Kings 20 2 Kings 20 (Listen) Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery 20 In those days 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, ‘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, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” 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 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. 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, 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 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 to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, 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 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, 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 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 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 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “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 The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 9:8–10:34 Isaiah 9:8–10:34 (Listen) Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression 8   The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,    and it will fall on Israel;9   and all the people will know,    Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,    who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:10   “The bricks have fallen,    but we will build with dressed stones;  the sycamores have been cut down,    but we will put cedars in their place.”11   But the LORD raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,    and stirs up his enemies.12   The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west    devour Israel with open mouth.  For all this his anger has not turned away,    and his hand is stretched out still. 13   The people did not turn to him who struck them,    nor inquire of the LORD of hosts.14   So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail,    palm branch and reed in one day—15   the elder and honored man is the head,    and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;16   for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,    and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.17   Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,    and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;  for everyone is godless and an evildoer,    and every mouth speaks folly.1  For all this his anger has not turned away,    and his hand is stretched out still. 18   For wickedness burns like a fire;    it consumes briers and thorns;  it kindles the thickets of the forest,    and they roll upward in a column of smoke.19   Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts    the land is scorched,  and the people are like fuel for the fire;    no one spares another.20   They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,    and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;  each devours the flesh of his own arm,21   Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;    together they are against Judah.  For all this his anger has not turned away,    and his hand is stretched out still. 10   Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,    and the writers who keep writing oppression,2   to turn aside the needy from justice    and to rob the poor of my people of their right,  that widows may be their spoil,    and that they may make the fatherless their prey!3   What will you do on the day of punishment,    in the ruin that will come from afar?  To whom will you flee for help,    and where will you leave your wealth?4   Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners    or fall among the slain.  For all this his anger has not turned away,    and his hand is stretched out still. Judgment on Arrogant Assyria 5   Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;    the staff in their hands is my fury!6   Against a godless nation I send him,    and against the people of my wrath I command him,  to take spoil and seize plunder,    and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.7   But he does not so intend,    and his heart does not so think;  but it is in his heart to destroy,    and to cut off nations not a few;8   for he says:  “Are not my commanders all kings?9   Is not Calno like Carchemish?    Is not Hamath like Arpad?    Is not Samaria like Damascus?10   As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,    whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,11   shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols    as I have done to Samaria and her images?” 12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he2 will punish the speech3 of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 For he says:   “By the strength of my hand I have done it,    and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;  I remove the boundaries of peoples,    and plunder their treasures;    like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.14   My hand has found like a nest    the wealth of the peoples;  and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,    so I have gathered all the earth;  and there was none that moved a wing    or opened the mouth or chirped.” 15   Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?  As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!16   Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts    will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,  and under his glory a burning will be kindled,    like the burning of fire.17   The light of Israel will become a fire,    and his Holy One a flame,  and it will burn and devour    his thorns and briers in one day.18   The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land    the LORD will destroy, both soul and body,    and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.19   The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few    that a child can write them down. The Remnant of Israel Will Return 20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth. 24 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”4 28   He has come to Aiath;  he has passed through Migron;    at Michmash he stores his baggage;29   they have crossed over the pass;    at Geba they lodge for the night;  Ramah trembles;    Gibeah of Saul has fled.30   Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!    Give attention, O Laishah!    O poor Anathoth!31   Madmenah is in flight;    the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.32   This very day he will halt at Nob;    he will shake his fist    at the mount of the daughter of Zion,    the hill of Jerusalem. 33   Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts    will lop the boughs with terrifying power;  the great in height will be hewn down,    and the lofty will be brought low.34   He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,    and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One. Footnotes [1] 9:17 Or speaks disgraceful things [2] 10:12 Hebrew I [3] 10:12 Hebrew fruit [4] 10:27 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: John 13 John 13 (Listen) Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet 13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet,1 but is completely clean. And you2 are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant3 is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled,4 ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” One of You Will Betray Me 21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side,5 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus6 of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. A New Commandment 31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.' 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial 36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. Footnotes [1] 13:10 Some manuscripts omit except for his feet [2] 13:10 The Greek words for you in this verse are plural [3] 13:16 Or bondservant, or slave (for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface) [4] 13:18 Greek But in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled [5] 13:23 Greek in

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 111 Psalm 111 (Listen) Great Are the Lord's Works 111   1 Praise the LORD!  I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.2   Great are the works of the LORD,    studied by all who delight in them.3   Full of splendor and majesty is his work,    and his righteousness endures forever.4   He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;    the LORD is gracious and merciful.5   He provides food for those who fear him;    he remembers his covenant forever.6   He has shown his people the power of his works,    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.7   The works of his hands are faithful and just;    all his precepts are trustworthy;8   they are established forever and ever,    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.9   He sent redemption to his people;    he has commanded his covenant forever.    Holy and awesome is his name!10   The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;    all those who practice it have a good understanding.    His praise endures forever! Footnotes [1] 111:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet (ESV) Pentateuch and History: 2 Kings 19 2 Kings 19 (Listen) Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah 19 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'” Sennacherib Defies the Lord 8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'” Hezekiah's Prayer 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.” Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:   “She despises you, she scorns you—    the virgin daughter of Zion;  she wags her head behind you—    the daughter of Jerusalem. 22   “Whom have you mocked and reviled?    Against whom have you raised your voice  and lifted your eyes to the heights?    Against the Holy One of Israel!23   By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,    and you have said, ‘With my many chariots  I have gone up the heights of the mountains,    to the far recesses of Lebanon;  I felled its tallest cedars,    its choicest cypresses;  I entered its farthest lodging place,    its most fruitful forest.24   I dug wells    and drank foreign waters,  and I dried up with the sole of my foot    all the streams of Egypt.' 25   “Have you not heard    that I determined it long ago?  I planned from days of old    what now I bring to pass,  that you should turn fortified cities    into heaps of ruins,26   while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,    are dismayed and confounded,  and have become like plants of the field    and like tender grass,  like grass on the housetops,    blighted before it is grown. 27   “But I know your sitting down    and your going out and coming in,    and your raging against me.28   Because you have raged against me    and your complacency has come into my ears,  I will put my hook in your nose    and my bit in your mouth,  and I will turn you back on the way    by which you came. 29 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this. 32 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” 35 And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 9:1–7 Isaiah 9:1–7 (Listen) For to Us a Child Is Born 9 1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.2 2   3 The people who walked in darkness    have seen a great light;  those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,    on them has light shone.3   You have multiplied the nation;    you have increased its joy;  they rejoice before you    as with joy at the harvest,    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.4   For the yoke of his burden,    and the staff for his shoulder,    the rod of his oppressor,    you have broken as on the day of Midian.5   For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult    and every garment rolled in blood    will be burned as fuel for the fire.6   For to us a child is born,    to us a son is given;  and the government shall be upon4 his shoulder,    and his name shall be called5  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7   Of the increase of his government and of peace    there will be no end,  on the throne of David and over his kingdom,    to establish it and to uphold it  with justice and with righteousness    from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Footnotes [1] 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew [2] 9:1 Or of the Gentiles [3] 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew [4] 9:6 Or is upon [5] 9:6 Or is called (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: John 12:20–50 John 12:20–50 (Listen) Some Greeks Seek Jesus 20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” The Unbelief of the People When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:   “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40   “He has blinded their eyes    and hardened their heart,  lest they see with their eyes,    and understand with their heart, and turn,    and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. Jesus Came to Save the World 44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (ESV)

Bava Kamma 17 : Marc Chipkin: 2023-11-19 The honour shown to King Hezekiah. Whoever occupies himself with Torah learning and bestowing kindness merits the inheritance of two tribes. Damages of tzo'rorot.

By Rev Charlie Lacey | Isaiah 36 Isaiah 36 (NIV)When we are facing a tough situation, there are potentially three ways that we can direct our trust.  We can direct it inwards by relying on ourselves; we can direct it outwards by relying on the people around us; or we can direct it upwards by relying on the Lord. King Hezekiah of Judah, faced a terrible predicament, and we can learn a lot from the way he responded to it.

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 110 Psalm 110 (Listen) Sit at My Right Hand A Psalm of David. 110   The LORD says to my Lord:    “Sit at my right hand,  until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2   The LORD sends forth from Zion    your mighty scepter.    Rule in the midst of your enemies!3   Your people will offer themselves freely    on the day of your power,1    in holy garments;2  from the womb of the morning,    the dew of your youth will be yours.34   The LORD has sworn    and will not change his mind,  “You are a priest forever    after the order of Melchizedek.” 5   The Lord is at your right hand;    he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.6   He will execute judgment among the nations,    filling them with corpses;  he will shatter chiefs4    over the wide earth.7   He will drink from the brook by the way;    therefore he will lift up his head. Footnotes [1] 110:3 Or on the day you lead your forces [2] 110:3 Masoretic Text; some Hebrew manuscripts and Jerome on the holy mountains [3] 110:3 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [4] 110:6 Or the head (ESV) Pentateuch and History: 2 Kings 18 2 Kings 18 (Listen) Hezekiah Reigns in Judah 18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).1 5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. 9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, 10 and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed. Sennacherib Attacks Judah 13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents2 of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17 And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. 18 And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder. 19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 20 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? 23 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”'” 26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?” 28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my3 hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me4 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'” 36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. Footnotes [1] 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent [2] 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms [3] 18:29 Hebrew his [4] 18:31 Hebrew Make a blessing with me (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 7–8 Isaiah 7–8 (Listen) Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz 7 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with1 Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz2 and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 3 And the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub3 your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it4 for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord GOD:   “‘It shall not stand,    and it shall not come to pass.8   For the head of Syria is Damascus,    and the head of Damascus is Rezin.  And within sixty-five years    Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.9   And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,    and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.  If you5 are not firm in faith,    you will not be firm at all.'” The Sign of Immanuel 10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the LORD your6 God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” 13 And he7 said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.8 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!” 18 In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.9 20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River10—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also. 21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey. 23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels11 of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread. The Coming Assyrian Invasion 8 Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters,12 ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.'13 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father' or ‘My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 The LORD spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River,14 mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” 9   Be broken,15 you peoples, and be shattered;16    give ear, all you far countries;  strap on your armor and be shattered;    strap on your armor and be shattered.10   Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;    speak a word, but it will not stand,    for God is with us.17 Fear God, Wait for the Lord 11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” 16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching18 among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land,19 greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against20 their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. Footnotes [1] 7:2 Hebrew Syria has rested upon [2] 7:2 Hebrew his heart [3] 7:3 Shear-jashub means A remnant shall return [4] 7:6 Hebrew let us split it open [5] 7:9 The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 9, 13, 14 [6] 7:11 The Hebrew for you and your is singular in verses 11, 16, 17 [7] 7:13 That is, Isaiah [8] 7:14 Immanuel means God is with us [9] 7:19 Or watering holes, or brambles [10] 7:20 That is, the Euphrates [11] 7:23 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams [12] 8:1 Hebrew with a man's stylus [13] 8:1 Maher-shalal-hash-baz means The spoil speeds, the prey hastens [14] 8:7 That is, the Euphrates [15] 8:9 Or Be evil [16] 8:9 Or dismayed [17] 8:10 The Hebrew for God is with us is Immanuel [18] 8:16 Or law; also verse 20 [19] 8:21 Hebrew it [20] 8:21 Or speak contemptuously by (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: John 11:55–12:19 John 11:55–12:19 (Listen) 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for1 Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him. Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany 12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound2 of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii3 and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it4 for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” The Plot to Kill Lazarus 9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus5 was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. The Triumphal Entry 12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15   “Fear not, daughter of Zion;  behold, your king is coming,    sitting on a donkey's colt!” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” Footnotes [1] 11:56 Greek were seeking for [2] 12:3 Greek litra; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams [3] 12:5 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer [4] 12:7 Or Leave her alone; she intended to keep it [5] 12:9 Greek he (ESV)

In this Bible Story, we return to the kingdom of Judah, where the wicked King Ahaz perished. In his place was Hezekiah - a young king whose righteousness was unmatched, not even by David himself. This story is inspired by 2 Chronicles 29-31 & 2 Kings 18:1-12. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 Chronicles 20 from the King James Version.Episode 149: As the armies of Assyria surrounded the kingdom of Judah, Hezekiah met with his men. As his men were brainstorming, they noticed a river on the map that gave water to the surrounding armies. The King ordered them to dam it and the armies of Assyria had nothing to drink. While Judah prepared for attack, Sennacherib sent men to taunt and divide the people of Judah. But Hezekiah, strong in faith, took his taunts and prayed to God for His intervention. And God answered by sending the Assyrian army away in shame.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Bible Story, King Hezekiah is saved from the clutches of death and is spared for another fifteen years. In this time, Hezekiah became friends with the leaders of Babylon. In an attempt to impress them, he showcases all of Judah's wealth. This story is inspired by 2 Kings 20 & 2 Chronicles 32:24-33. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 Kings 20:6 from the King James Version.Episode 151: Unlike his father who would protect the people of Judah, Manasseh would burn them as sacrifices to idols. Unlike his father who loved God and restored the temple, Manasseh showed his irreverence by erecting idols to false gods in the temple. God would not tolerate all of this abuse and irreverence and so He allowed him to be bound and taken prisoner by the King of Assyria. While there, Manasseh humbled himself and cried out to God. And God who is rich in mercy and steadfast love, received his prayer and restored his kingdom.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week BibleWorm reads two texts from Isaiah that are not normally read together: the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7 and the description of the ideal king in Isaiah 11:1-9. In the first text, we find God making an accusation against Israel and Judah, the vineyard that God planted to produce justice and righteousness but which has instead produced violence and oppression. As a result, God removes the hedge around the vineyard, leaving it vulnerable to destruction. Yet in Isaiah 11 we find a description of a sprout emerging from the stump of Jesse, signaling hope for the future. The sprout represents an ideal leader who is not swayed by what he sees and hears but by reverence for God, producing the justice and equity that God seeks. We relate Isaiah 11 to King Hezekiah of Judah, to the hoped-for messiah, and to we ourselves, who are called to live non-violently in a world of predation.

In this Bible Story, we learn about the tragic downfall of Israel. Fully immersed in evil, they find themselves captive to the dark nations they swore allegiance to. Captives, stolen away from their country, they still fail to cry out to God for help. This story is inspired by 2 Kings 17. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 Kings 17:39 from the King James Version.Episode 148: King Hezekiah bore the burden of having Ahaz as his father, but he was nothing like him. Hezekiah held fast to God and encouraged the people to do the same. He led the people in restoring the temple of God. He restored the priests to the temple. And he led the people in true repentance and trust in God.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"I will cause the sun's shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial..." Words from the Prophet Isaiah (Chapter 38) to King Hezekiah inspire this talk from Ronnie as he connects it to "Daylight Savings Time" and the "extra time" we have all been given to live our lives.

With family: 2 Kings 20; Hebrews 2 2 Kings 20 (Listen) Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery 20 In those days 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, ‘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, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” 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 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. 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, 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 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 to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, 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 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, 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 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 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 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “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 The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. (ESV) Hebrews 2 (Listen) Warning Against Neglecting Salvation 2 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. The Founder of Salvation 5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,   “What is man, that you are mindful of him,    or the son of man, that you care for him?7   You made him for a little while lower than the angels;    you have crowned him with glory and honor,18     putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.2 That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,3 12 saying,   “I will tell of your name to my brothers;    in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again,   “I will put my trust in him.” And again,   “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Footnotes [1] 2:7 Some manuscripts insert and set him over the works of your hands [2] 2:11 Greek all are of one [3] 2:11 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters (ESV) In private: Psalms 137–138; Hosea 13 Psalms 137–138 (Listen) How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song? 137   By the waters of Babylon,    there we sat down and wept,    when we remembered Zion.2   On the willows1 there    we hung up our lyres.3   For there our captors    required of us songs,  and our tormentors, mirth, saying,    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4   How shall we sing the LORD's song    in a foreign land?5   If I forget you, O Jerusalem,    let my right hand forget its skill!6   Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,    if I do not remember you,  if I do not set Jerusalem    above my highest joy! 7   Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites    the day of Jerusalem,  how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,    down to its foundations!”8   O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,    blessed shall he be who repays you    with what you have done to us!9   Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones    and dashes them against the rock! Give Thanks to the Lord Of David. 138   I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;    before the gods I sing your praise;2   I bow down toward your holy temple    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,    for you have exalted above all things    your name and your word.23   On the day I called, you answered me;    my strength of soul you increased.3 4   All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,    for they have heard the words of your mouth,5   and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,    for great is the glory of the LORD.6   For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,    but the haughty he knows from afar. 7   Though I walk in the midst of trouble,    you preserve my life;  you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,    and your right hand delivers me.8   The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;    your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.    Do not forsake the work of your hands. Footnotes [1] 137:2 Or poplars [2] 138:2 Or you have exalted your word above all your name [3] 138:3 Hebrew you made me bold in my soul with strength (ESV) Hosea 13 (Listen) The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel 13   When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;    he was exalted in Israel,    but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.2   And now they sin more and more,    and make for themselves metal images,  idols skillfully made of their silver,    all of them the work of craftsmen.  It is said of them,    “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”3   Therefore they shall be like the morning mist    or like the dew that goes early away,  like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor    or like smoke from a window. 4   But I am the LORD your God    from the land of Egypt;  you know no God but me,    and besides me there is no savior.5   It was I who knew you in the wilderness,    in the land of drought;6   but when they had grazed,1 they became full,    they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;    therefore they forgot me.7   So I am to them like a lion;    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.8   I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;    I will tear open their breast,  and there I will devour them like a lion,    as a wild beast would rip them open. 9   He destroys2 you, O Israel,    for you are against me, against your helper.10   Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?    Where are all your rulers—  those of whom you said,    “Give me a king and princes”?11   I gave you a king in my anger,    and I took him away in my wrath. 12   The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;    his sin is kept in store.13   The pangs of childbirth come for him,    but he is an unwise son,  for at the right time he does not present himself    at the opening of the womb. 14   I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;    I shall redeem them from Death.3  O Death, where are your plagues?    O Sheol, where is your sting?    Compassion is hidden from my eyes. 15   Though he may flourish among his brothers,    the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come,    rising from the wilderness,  and his fountain shall dry up;    his spring shall be parched;  it shall strip his treasury    of every precious thing.16   4 Samaria shall bear her guilt,    because she has rebelled against her God;  they shall fall by the sword;    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,    and their pregnant women ripped open. Footnotes [1] 13:6 Hebrew according to their pasture [2] 13:9 Or I will destroy [3] 13:14 Or Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? [4] 13:16 Ch 14:1 in Hebrew (ESV)

With family: 2 Kings 19; Hebrews 1 2 Kings 19 (Listen) Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah 19 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'” Sennacherib Defies the Lord 8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'” Hezekiah's Prayer 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.” Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:   “She despises you, she scorns you—    the virgin daughter of Zion;  she wags her head behind you—    the daughter of Jerusalem. 22   “Whom have you mocked and reviled?    Against whom have you raised your voice  and lifted your eyes to the heights?    Against the Holy One of Israel!23   By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,    and you have said, ‘With my many chariots  I have gone up the heights of the mountains,    to the far recesses of Lebanon;  I felled its tallest cedars,    its choicest cypresses;  I entered its farthest lodging place,    its most fruitful forest.24   I dug wells    and drank foreign waters,  and I dried up with the sole of my foot    all the streams of Egypt.' 25   “Have you not heard    that I determined it long ago?  I planned from days of old    what now I bring to pass,  that you should turn fortified cities    into heaps of ruins,26   while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,    are dismayed and confounded,  and have become like plants of the field    and like tender grass,  like grass on the housetops,    blighted before it is grown. 27   “But I know your sitting down    and your going out and coming in,    and your raging against me.28   Because you have raged against me    and your complacency has come into my ears,  I will put my hook in your nose    and my bit in your mouth,  and I will turn you back on the way    by which you came. 29 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this. 32 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” 35 And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. (ESV) Hebrews 1 (Listen) The Supremacy of God's Son 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,   “You are my Son,    today I have begotten you”? Or again,   “I will be to him a father,    and he shall be to me a son”? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,   “Let all God's angels worship him.” 7 Of the angels he says,   “He makes his angels winds,    and his ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son he says,   “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,    the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.9   You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;  therefore God, your God, has anointed you    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” 10 And,   “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,    and the heavens are the work of your hands;11   they will perish, but you remain;    they will all wear out like a garment,12   like a robe you will roll them up,    like a garment they will be changed.1  But you are the same,    and your years will have no end.” 13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,   “Sit at my right hand    until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Footnotes [1] 1:12 Some manuscripts omit like a garment (ESV) In private: Psalms 135–136; Hosea 12 Psalms 135–136 (Listen) Your Name, O Lord, Endures Forever 135   Praise the LORD!  Praise the name of the LORD,    give praise, O servants of the LORD,2   who stand in the house of the LORD,    in the courts of the house of our God!3   Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;    sing to his name, for it is pleasant!14   For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,    Israel as his own possession. 5   For I know that the LORD is great,    and that our Lord is above all gods.6   Whatever the LORD pleases, he does,    in heaven and on earth,    in the seas and all deeps.7   He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,    who makes lightnings for the rain    and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. 8   He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,    both of man and of beast;9   who in your midst, O Egypt,    sent signs and wonders    against Pharaoh and all his servants;10   who struck down many nations    and killed mighty kings,11   Sihon, king of the Amorites,    and Og, king of Bashan,    and all the kingdoms of Canaan,12   and gave their land as a heritage,    a heritage to his people Israel. 13   Your name, O LORD, endures forever,    your renown,2 O LORD, throughout all ages.14   For the LORD will vindicate his people    and have compassion on his servants. 15   The idols of the nations are silver and gold,    the work of human hands.16   They have mouths, but do not speak;    they have eyes, but do not see;17   they have ears, but do not hear,    nor is there any breath in their mouths.18   Those who make them become like them,    so do all who trust in them. 19   O house of Israel, bless the LORD!    O house of Aaron, bless the LORD!20   O house of Levi, bless the LORD!    You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!21   Blessed be the LORD from Zion,    he who dwells in Jerusalem!  Praise the LORD! His Steadfast Love Endures Forever 136   Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,    for his steadfast love endures forever.2   Give thanks to the God of gods,    for his steadfast love endures forever.3   Give thanks to the Lord of lords,    for his steadfast love endures forever; 4   to him who alone does great wonders,    for his steadfast love endures forever;5   to him who by understanding made the heavens,    for his steadfast love endures forever;6   to him who spread out the earth above the waters,    for his steadfast love endures forever;7   to him who made the great lights,    for his steadfast love endures forever;8   the sun to rule over the day,    for his steadfast love endures forever;9   the moon and stars to rule over the night,    for his steadfast love endures forever; 10   to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,    for his steadfast love endures forever;11   and brought Israel out from among them,    for his steadfast love endures forever;12   with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,    for his steadfast love endures forever;13   to him who divided the Red Sea in two,    for his steadfast love endures forever;14   and made Israel pass through the midst of it,    for his steadfast love endures forever;15   but overthrew3 Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea,    for his steadfast love endures forever;16   to him who led his people through the wilderness,    for his steadfast love endures forever; 17   to him who struck down great kings,    for his steadfast love endures forever;18   and killed mighty kings,    for his steadfast love endures forever;19   Sihon, king of the Amorites,    for his steadfast love endures forever;20   and Og, king of Bashan,    for his steadfast love endures forever;21   and gave their land as a heritage,    for his steadfast love endures forever;22   a heritage to Israel his servant,    for his steadfast love endures forever. 23   It is he who remembered us in our low estate,    for his steadfast love endures forever;24   and rescued us from our foes,    for his steadfast love endures forever;25   he who gives food to all flesh,    for his steadfast love endures forever. 26   Give thanks to the God of heaven,    for his steadfast love endures forever. Footnotes [1] 135:3 Or for he is beautiful [2] 135:13 Or remembrance [3] 136:15 Hebrew shook off (ESV) Hosea 12 (Listen) 12   Ephraim feeds on the wind    and pursues the east wind all day long;  they multiply falsehood and violence;    they make a covenant with Assyria,    and oil is carried to Egypt. The Lord's Indictment of Israel and Judah 2   The LORD has an indictment against Judah    and will punish Jacob according to his ways;    he will repay him according to his deeds.3   In the womb he took his brother by the heel,    and in his manhood he strove with God.4   He strove with the angel and prevailed;    he wept and sought his favor.  He met God1 at Bethel,    and there God spoke with us—5   the LORD, the God of hosts,    the LORD is his memorial name:6   “So you, by the help of your God, return,    hold fast to love and justice,    and wait continually for your God.” 7   A merchant, in whose hands are false balances,    he loves to oppress.8   Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich;    I have found wealth for myself;  in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”9   I am the LORD your God    from the land of Egypt;  I will again make you dwell in tents,    as in the days of the appointed feast. 10   I spoke to the prophets;    it was I who multiplied visions,    and through the prophets gave parables.11   If there is iniquity in Gilead,    they shall surely come to nothing:  in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;    their altars also are like stone heaps

Drawing lessons and encouragement from the story of King Hezekiah, Nana Kofi Acquah encourages us to finish this year in faith and by faith in a God who keeps His promises.

Welcome to Passionate Life Church! Today, Pastor Andrew continues his series on the importance of living according to scripture. We are so glad you are here! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ World vs Word part 6    5th reason why we can trust the Bible.    "Historically Validated"   1. Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered in 1947 in the ruins of Qumran. Found 950 documents and 220 Biblical scrolls.   2. Burnt scroll of Leviticus found 1970. Why is it important? Discovered that it was written in 50-100 AC. Show pic.    3. Discoveries at the Temple Mount 2015-2017. Old pottery, arrowheads, colonial seal that dates to David's conquest of the city, and Solomon's Colonnade. John 10:23 NLT    Acts 5:12 NLT    4. Jabal Cattle Cult: Is their proof people lived before the flood?  Genesis 4:19-20 NIV   5. Pontius Pilate's ring and stone    6. The seals of King Hezekiah and Isaiah 2700 years old. Show pic.  2 Kings 20:1-6 NIV    7. Gideon's Jug 3100 years old. "Jerub-Baal" Judges 6:31-32 NIV   8. 3000 year old Canaanite false god temple found in a city called Lachish show pic.  2 Chronicles 25:27 NIV   9. Discoveries on Mount Ebal    The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal and an altar is built.     Joshua 8:30-31 NIV    The altar/cultic structure on Mt. Ebal. An earlier, circular altar was discovered beneath at the exact geometric center.  They discovered a small, folded lead curse tablet (called a defixio) approximately the size of a folded business card.     Deuteronomy 27:13-14 NIV    You are cursed by the god YHW, cursed.  You will die, cursed—cursed, you will surely die.  Cursed you are by YHW—cursed.    10. Sodom and Gomorrah  Genesis 18:20 NLT    Genesis 19:24-25 NLT   Luke 17:28-30 NLT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for listening! If you were positively impacted by this message, please leave us a comment! Be sure to like and subscribe to our channel to stay connected to this house. Join us every Sunday at 9:00am or 10:30am Spotify: http://bit.ly/passionatelifechurch Facebook:   / passionatelifechurch   Instagram:   / passionate.life.church   10393 W Alamo Pl Littleton, CO 80127 Need Prayer? Contact us at passionatelifechurch@gmail.com — ► Subscribe to our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL88... — Passionate People. Multicultural Environment. Atmosphere to Experience God. You will feel Loved, Refreshed, and empowered. Loved: We have an atmosphere of acceptance and an environment that creates a “come as you are” message. Everyone will feel loved! Refreshed: We serve a God of the Fresh Start! No matter where you've been or what you've done, God wants to refresh you today and every day. Empowered: God wants to grow you into everything He's called you to be and do. We want to give you all of the tools you will need in order to empower you to live a life fully devoted to Jesus Christ. We are non-denominational & believe that the Bible is truth and fully written by God through man. Need Prayer? Contact us at passionatelifechurch@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/passionatelifechurch/message

With family: 2 Kings 18; Philemon 2 Kings 18 (Listen) Hezekiah Reigns in Judah 18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).1 5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. 9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, 10 and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed. Sennacherib Attacks Judah 13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents2 of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 17 And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. 18 And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder. 19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 20 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? 23 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”'” 26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?” 28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my3 hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me4 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'” 36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. Footnotes [1] 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent [2] 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms [3] 18:29 Hebrew his [4] 18:31 Hebrew Make a blessing with me (ESV) Philemon (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philemon's Love and Faith 4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.1 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Paul's Plea for Onesimus 8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus,2 whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant3 but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you. Final Greetings 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Footnotes [1] 1:6 Or for Christ's service [2] 1:10 Onesimus means useful (see verse 11) or beneficial (see verse 20) [3] 1:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; twice in this verse (ESV) In private: Psalms 132–134; Hosea 11 Psalms 132–134 (Listen) The Lord Has Chosen Zion A Song of Ascents. 132   Remember, O LORD, in David's favor,    all the hardships he endured,2   how he swore to the LORD    and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,3   “I will not enter my house    or get into my bed,4   I will not give sleep to my eyes    or slumber to my eyelids,5   until I find a place for the LORD,    a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” 6   Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;    we found it in the fields of Jaar.7   “Let us go to his dwelling place;    let us worship at his footstool!” 8   Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place,    you and the ark of your might.9   Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,    and let your saints shout for joy.10   For the sake of your servant David,    do not turn away the face of your anointed one. 11   The LORD swore to David a sure oath    from which he will not turn back:  “One of the sons of your body1    I will set on your throne.12   If your sons keep my covenant    and my testimonies that I shall teach them,  their sons also forever    shall sit on your throne.” 13   For the LORD has chosen Zion;    he has desired it for his dwelling place:14   “This is my resting place forever;    here I will dwell, for I have desired it.15   I will abundantly bless her provisions;    I will satisfy her poor with bread.16   Her priests I will clothe with salvation,    and her saints will shout for joy.17   There I will make a horn to sprout for David;    I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.18   His enemies I will clothe with shame,    but on him his crown will shine.” When Brothers Dwell in Unity A Song of Ascents. Of David. 133   Behold, how good and pleasant it is    when brothers dwell in unity!22   It is like the precious oil on the head,    running down on the beard,  on the beard of Aaron,    running down on the collar of his robes!3   It is like the dew of Hermon,    which falls on the mountains of Zion!  For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,    life forevermore. Come, Bless the Lord A Song of Ascents. 134   Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,    who stand by night in the house of the LORD!2   Lift up your hands to the holy place    and bless the LORD! 3   May the LORD bless you from Zion,    he who made heaven and earth! Footnotes [1] 132:11 Hebrew of your fruit of the womb [2] 133:1 Or dwell together (ESV) Hosea 11 (Listen) The Lord's Love for Israel 11   When Israel was a child, I loved him,    and out of Egypt I called my son.2   The more they were called,    the more they went away;  they kept sacrificing to the Baals    and burning offerings to idols. 3   Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;    I took them up by their arms,    but they did not know that I healed them.4   I led them with cords of kindness,1    with the bands of love,  and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,    and I bent down to them and fed them. 5   They shall not2 return to the land of Egypt,    but Assyria shall be their king,    because they have refused to return to me.6   The sword shall rage against their cities,    consume the bars of their gates,    and devour them because of their own counsels.7   My people are bent on turning away from me,    and though they call out to the Most High,    he shall not raise them up at all. 8   How can I give you up, O Ephraim?    How can I hand you over, O Israel?  How can I make you like Admah?    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?  My heart recoils within me;    my compassion grows warm and tender.9   I will not execute my burning anger;    I will not again destroy Ephraim;  for I am God and not a man,    the Holy One in your midst,    and I will not come in wrath.3 10   They shall go after the LORD;    he will roar like a lion;  when he roars,    his children shall come trembling from the west;11   they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,    and like doves from the land of Assyria,    and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.12   4 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,    and the house of Israel with deceit,  but Judah still walks with God    and is faithful to the Holy One. Footnotes [1] 11:4 Or humaneness; Hebrew man [2] 11:5 Or surely [3] 11:9 Or into the city [4] 11:12 Ch 12:1 in Hebrew (ESV)

As I was reading about the great King Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 32, it occurred to me that for all of the good and great things he accomplished in his life, he was an engineer at heart. In one short verse -30- we read that Hezekiah constructed a tunnel to bring water from the Gihon Springs down to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. Sounds simple -- but it was actually something of an ancient engineering marvel as it must have taken some serious math and technical skill to have workers dig from opposite ends of the tunnel only to meet perfectly in the middle while maintaining a precise 0.6- grade all the way from beginning to end. This tunnel still exists today. It's little wonder that the princes of Babylon sent to -inquire of the wonder that was done in the land,- and that Hezekiah's heart was, as a result, lifted up in pride toward the end of his life.--As I think of Hezekiah the engineer, I am reminded of the ever present danger of falling into the same trap of pride amidst all of our technical achievements. I believe it to be the besetting sin of engineers in general. There can be such a dependence on our own ingenuity, that we can drift into a mode of self-dependence -- thinking ourselves more highly than we ought to think.--The great need of the hour is to maintain a spirit of GRATITUDE and HUMILITY amidst all of our advances.----Learn about The Vault----www.sermonaudio.com-vault

Faith Over Fear host Jennifer Slattery is also one of the hosts of the Your Daily Bible Verse podcast. In that podcast, she often discusses passages of Scripture with truths she finds helpful in decreasing her fear and increasing her faith. In this episodes, she shares clips from four of those episodes and on the following chapters of the Bible: Exodus 17, 2 Chronicles 20, 2 Chronicles 32, and Joshua 1. *Please note, in the recording I refer to Joshua 1 as Joshua 9. This was spoken in error. (Scroll down for discussion/reflective questions.) Find Jennifer Slattery: On her website Instagram Facebook Amazon Find Wholly Loved: On their website Join the private Faith Over Fear Facebook Group  Join the Private Wholly Loved Community Facebook Group Discussion/Reflective Questions; Which of the four Bible verses and passages discussed in this episode most encouraged you and why? Reflect upon the passage where God asked Moses to keep his arms raised while Israel engaged in battle and how God used that event to deepen the nation's trust. When have you experienced a time during which you had no choice but to rely upon God? How did this event impact your trust in and relationship with Him? Reflect upon the passage in 2 Chronicles 20, written about the time during which the nation of Israel found themselves under the attack of a fierce army. What did God's response reveal regarding His power and authority?  Continuing with 2 Chronicles 20, what did God's response to King Jehoshapat's prayer reveal regarding His heart? How often have you chosen to praise God while afraid, and how did this choice impact you and the intensity of your fears? Reflect upon 2 Chronicles 32. Why might Jennifer have chosen to emphasize King Hezekiah's poor mistake (using money from the temple to pay tribute to an enemy nation)? How does God's response to King Hezekiah's prayer–after his momentary poor decision–impact you? What resonated with you most in Jennifer's Discussion of Joshua 1? What is one action step God might be asking you to take, having listened to this episode? Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This Is the Time, in Our Fear-Evoking Events, that Jesus Followers, Like Jesus and King Hezekiah, Need to Get Alone with God and Pray MESSAGE SUMMARY: Immediately, Jesus made His Disciples get in a boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side while Jesus dismissed the crowd. After Jesus dismissed the crowd, He went up on a mountainside, by Himself, to pray. He was alone with His Father. In Mark 1:35, Jesus' prayer life is presented: “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.”. If there is one Christian discipline that is neglected by Christians of today, it is the practice of getting alone with God and having a quiet time to pray -- not you and your computer; not you and a friend; but only you and God alone in your prayer. We can learn a great deal from King Hezekiah, in Isaiah 37:15-17a about his personal relationship with God, through personal prayer, as he is faced with a powerful invasion of Israel: “And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ‘O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear.'”.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, in order to be with you, I need you to show me how to “create a desert” in the midst of my full, active life. Cleanse me from the pressures, illusions, and pretenses that confront me today so that my life may serve as a gift to those around me. Amen.     Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 26). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Compulsions. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit's fruit of Patience. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  John 17:1-5; Matthew 26:36-40; Isaiah 37:14-17; Psalms 100:1-5. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Remembering “he who is forgiven little, loves little”, Is Your Focus Outward in the Love and Service of Others?” Every Day - Do You?”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Kingdom of Judah was challenged by the great Assyrian Empire. King Hezekiah prepared for Jerusalem to be besieged, and had his engineers prepare a remarkable conduit to ensure the city's water supply. Hezekiah's conduit was discovered in 1838. Archaeology has unearthed Assyrian accounts of their invasion which harmonises with the Bible account. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christadelphians-talk/message

Step into a chapter marked by a stark contrast of leadership in 2 Kings 21. Here, the righteous reign of King Hezekiah is followed by the troubling era of his son, Manasseh, whose reign is marked by idolatry and moral decay. Join us as we explore the complex interplay of faith, righteousness, and the enduring impact of leadership choices. In this episode, we delve into the profound lessons offered by 2 Kings 21. As always be blessed and enjoy. Please follow, like, and share our podcast with a friend or family member!

The year 701 B.C. was a tough year for King Hezekiah. Not only did he fall deathly ill, but his capital, Jerusalem, was attacked by the mighty Assyrian army.

Delve into the profound lessons of pride and humility in 2 Kings 20. This chapter unfolds the story of King Hezekiah, where his initial pride nearly cost him his life. Join us as we explore the tension between human pride and divine humility, and the transformative power of both in the captivating narrative of 2 Kings 20. As always be blessed and enjoy. Please follow, like, and share our podcast with a friend or family member!

In this episode I discuss What to do in a crisis, using King Hezekiah as an example (2 Kings 19 & 20) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/practicalprophetic/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/practicalprophetic/support

Old Testament: Isaiah 39–41 Isaiah 39–41 (Listen) Envoys from Babylon 39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole 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. 3 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?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when 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. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.” Comfort for God's People 40   Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.2   Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,    and cry to her  that her warfare1 is ended,    that her iniquity is pardoned,  that she has received from the LORD's hand    double for all her sins. 3   A voice cries:2  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.4   Every valley shall be lifted up,    and every mountain and hill be made low;  the uneven ground shall become level,    and the rough places a plain.5   And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,    and all flesh shall see it together,    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” The Word of God Stands Forever 6   A voice says, “Cry!”    And I said,3 “What shall I cry?”  All flesh is grass,    and all its beauty4 is like the flower of the field.7   The grass withers, the flower fades    when the breath of the LORD blows on it;    surely the people are grass.8   The grass withers, the flower fades,    but the word of our God will stand forever. The Greatness of God 9   Go on up to a high mountain,    O Zion, herald of good news;5  lift up your voice with strength,    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;6    lift it up, fear not;  say to the cities of Judah,    “Behold your God!”10   Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,    and his arm rules for him;  behold, his reward is with him,    and his recompense before him.11   He will tend his flock like a shepherd;    he will gather the lambs in his arms;  he will carry them in his bosom,    and gently lead those that are with young. 12   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand    and marked off the heavens with a span,  enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure    and weighed the mountains in scales    and the hills in a balance?13   Who has measured7 the Spirit of the LORD,    or what man shows him his counsel?14   Whom did he consult,    and who made him understand?  Who taught him the path of justice,    and taught him knowledge,    and showed him the way of understanding?15   Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,    and are accounted as the dust on the scales;    behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.16   Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,    nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.17   All the nations are as nothing before him,    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18   To whom then will you liken God,    or what likeness compare with him?19   An idol! A craftsman casts it,    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold    and casts for it silver chains.20   He who is too impoverished for an offering    chooses wood8 that will not rot;  he seeks out a skillful craftsman    to set up an idol that will not move. 21   Do you not know? Do you not hear?    Has it not been told you from the beginning?    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?22   It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;  who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;23   who brings princes to nothing,    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24   Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,  when he blows on them, and they wither,    and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25   To whom then will you compare me,    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.26   Lift up your eyes on high and see:    who created these?  He who brings out their host by number,    calling them all by name;  by the greatness of his might    and because he is strong in power,    not one is missing. 27   Why do you say, O Jacob,    and speak, O Israel,  “My way is hidden from the LORD,    and my right is disregarded by my God”?28   Have you not known? Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God,    the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary;    his understanding is unsearchable.29   He gives power to the faint,    and to him who has no might he increases strength.30   Even youths shall faint and be weary,    and young men shall fall exhausted;31   but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;  they shall run and not be weary;    they shall walk and not faint. Fear Not, for I Am with You 41   Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;    let the peoples renew their strength;  let them approach, then let them speak;    let us together draw near for judgment. 2   Who stirred up one from the east    whom victory meets at every step?9  He gives up nations before him,    so that he tramples kings underfoot;  he makes them like dust with his sword,    like driven stubble with his bow.3   He pursues them and passes on safely,    by paths his feet have not trod.4   Who has performed and done this,    calling the generations from the beginning?  I, the LORD, the first,    and with the last; I am he. 5   The coastlands have seen and are afraid;    the ends of the earth tremble;    they have drawn near and come.6   Everyone helps his neighbor    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”7   The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,    and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,  saying of the soldering, “It is good”;    and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 8   But you, Israel, my servant,    Jacob, whom I have chosen,    the offspring of Abraham, my friend;9   you whom I took from the ends of the earth,    and called from its farthest corners,  saying to you, “You are my servant,    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;10   fear not, for I am with you;    be not dismayed, for I am your God;  I will strengthen you, I will help you,    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11   Behold, all who are incensed against you    shall be put to shame and confounded;  those who strive against you    shall be as nothing and shall perish.12   You shall seek those who contend with you,    but you shall not find them;  those who war against you    shall be as nothing at all.13   For I, the LORD your God,    hold your right hand;  it is I who say to you, “Fear not,    I am the one who helps you.” 14   Fear not, you worm Jacob,    you men of Israel!  I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;    your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.15   Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,    new, sharp, and having teeth;  you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,    and you shall make the hills like chaff;16   you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,    and the tempest shall scatter them.  And you shall rejoice in the LORD;    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. 17   When the poor and needy seek water,    and there is none,    and their tongue is parched with thirst,  I the LORD will answer them;    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.18   I will open rivers on the bare heights,    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.  I will make the wilderness a pool of water,    and the dry land springs of water.19   I will put in the wilderness the cedar,    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.  I will set in the desert the cypress,    the plane and the pine together,20   that they may see and know,    may consider and understand together,  that the hand of the LORD has done this,    the Holy One of Israel has created it. The Futility of Idols 21   Set forth your case, says the LORD;    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.22   Let them bring them, and tell us    what is to happen.  Tell us the former things, what they are,    that we may consider them,  that we may know their outcome;    or declare to us the things to come.23   Tell us what is to come hereafter,    that we may know that you are gods;  do good, or do harm,    that we may be dismayed and terrified.1024   Behold, you are nothing,    and your work is less than nothing;    an abomination is he who chooses you. 25   I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,    from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;  he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,    as the potter treads clay.26   Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?  There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,    none who heard your words.27   I was the first to say11 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”    and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.28   But when I look, there is no one;    among these there is no counselor    who, when I ask, gives an answer.29   Behold, they are all a delusion;    their works are nothing;    their metal images are empty wind. Footnotes [1] 40:2 Or hardship [2] 40:3 Or A voice of one crying [3] 40:6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says [4] 40:6 Or all its constancy [5] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Zion [6] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem [7] 40:13 Or has directed [8] 40:20 Or He chooses valuable wood [9] 41:2 Or whom righteousness calls to follow? [10] 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see [11] 41:27 Or Formerly I said (ESV) New Testament: James 2:1–13 James 2:1–13 (Listen) The Sin of Partiality 2 My brothers,1 show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Footnotes [1] 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 14 (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 94 Psalm 94 (Listen) The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

Old Testament: Isaiah 39–41 Isaiah 39–41 (Listen) Envoys from Babylon 39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole 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. 3 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?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 Behold, the days are coming, when 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. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.” Comfort for God's People 40   Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.2   Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,    and cry to her  that her warfare1 is ended,    that her iniquity is pardoned,  that she has received from the LORD's hand    double for all her sins. 3   A voice cries:2  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.4   Every valley shall be lifted up,    and every mountain and hill be made low;  the uneven ground shall become level,    and the rough places a plain.5   And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,    and all flesh shall see it together,    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” The Word of God Stands Forever 6   A voice says, “Cry!”    And I said,3 “What shall I cry?”  All flesh is grass,    and all its beauty4 is like the flower of the field.7   The grass withers, the flower fades    when the breath of the LORD blows on it;    surely the people are grass.8   The grass withers, the flower fades,    but the word of our God will stand forever. The Greatness of God 9   Go on up to a high mountain,    O Zion, herald of good news;5  lift up your voice with strength,    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;6    lift it up, fear not;  say to the cities of Judah,    “Behold your God!”10   Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,    and his arm rules for him;  behold, his reward is with him,    and his recompense before him.11   He will tend his flock like a shepherd;    he will gather the lambs in his arms;  he will carry them in his bosom,    and gently lead those that are with young. 12   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand    and marked off the heavens with a span,  enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure    and weighed the mountains in scales    and the hills in a balance?13   Who has measured7 the Spirit of the LORD,    or what man shows him his counsel?14   Whom did he consult,    and who made him understand?  Who taught him the path of justice,    and taught him knowledge,    and showed him the way of understanding?15   Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,    and are accounted as the dust on the scales;    behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.16   Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,    nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.17   All the nations are as nothing before him,    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18   To whom then will you liken God,    or what likeness compare with him?19   An idol! A craftsman casts it,    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold    and casts for it silver chains.20   He who is too impoverished for an offering    chooses wood8 that will not rot;  he seeks out a skillful craftsman    to set up an idol that will not move. 21   Do you not know? Do you not hear?    Has it not been told you from the beginning?    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?22   It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;  who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;23   who brings princes to nothing,    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24   Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,  when he blows on them, and they wither,    and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25   To whom then will you compare me,    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.26   Lift up your eyes on high and see:    who created these?  He who brings out their host by number,    calling them all by name;  by the greatness of his might    and because he is strong in power,    not one is missing. 27   Why do you say, O Jacob,    and speak, O Israel,  “My way is hidden from the LORD,    and my right is disregarded by my God”?28   Have you not known? Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God,    the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary;    his understanding is unsearchable.29   He gives power to the faint,    and to him who has no might he increases strength.30   Even youths shall faint and be weary,    and young men shall fall exhausted;31   but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;  they shall run and not be weary;    they shall walk and not faint. Fear Not, for I Am with You 41   Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;    let the peoples renew their strength;  let them approach, then let them speak;    let us together draw near for judgment. 2   Who stirred up one from the east    whom victory meets at every step?9  He gives up nations before him,    so that he tramples kings underfoot;  he makes them like dust with his sword,    like driven stubble with his bow.3   He pursues them and passes on safely,    by paths his feet have not trod.4   Who has performed and done this,    calling the generations from the beginning?  I, the LORD, the first,    and with the last; I am he. 5   The coastlands have seen and are afraid;    the ends of the earth tremble;    they have drawn near and come.6   Everyone helps his neighbor    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”7   The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,    and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,  saying of the soldering, “It is good”;    and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 8   But you, Israel, my servant,    Jacob, whom I have chosen,    the offspring of Abraham, my friend;9   you whom I took from the ends of the earth,    and called from its farthest corners,  saying to you, “You are my servant,    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;10   fear not, for I am with you;    be not dismayed, for I am your God;  I will strengthen you, I will help you,    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11   Behold, all who are incensed against you    shall be put to shame and confounded;  those who strive against you    shall be as nothing and shall perish.12   You shall seek those who contend with you,    but you shall not find them;  those who war against you    shall be as nothing at all.13   For I, the LORD your God,    hold your right hand;  it is I who say to you, “Fear not,    I am the one who helps you.” 14   Fear not, you worm Jacob,    you men of Israel!  I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;    your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.15   Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,    new, sharp, and having teeth;  you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,    and you shall make the hills like chaff;16   you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,    and the tempest shall scatter them.  And you shall rejoice in the LORD;    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. 17   When the poor and needy seek water,    and there is none,    and their tongue is parched with thirst,  I the LORD will answer them;    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.18   I will open rivers on the bare heights,    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.  I will make the wilderness a pool of water,    and the dry land springs of water.19   I will put in the wilderness the cedar,    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.  I will set in the desert the cypress,    the plane and the pine together,20   that they may see and know,    may consider and understand together,  that the hand of the LORD has done this,    the Holy One of Israel has created it. The Futility of Idols 21   Set forth your case, says the LORD;    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.22   Let them bring them, and tell us    what is to happen.  Tell us the former things, what they are,    that we may consider them,  that we may know their outcome;    or declare to us the things to come.23   Tell us what is to come hereafter,    that we may know that you are gods;  do good, or do harm,    that we may be dismayed and terrified.1024   Behold, you are nothing,    and your work is less than nothing;    an abomination is he who chooses you. 25   I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,    from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;  he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,    as the potter treads clay.26   Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?  There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,    none who heard your words.27   I was the first to say11 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”    and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.28   But when I look, there is no one;    among these there is no counselor    who, when I ask, gives an answer.29   Behold, they are all a delusion;    their works are nothing;    their metal images are empty wind. Footnotes [1] 40:2 Or hardship [2] 40:3 Or A voice of one crying [3] 40:6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says [4] 40:6 Or all its constancy [5] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Zion [6] 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem [7] 40:13 Or has directed [8] 40:20 Or He chooses valuable wood [9] 41:2 Or whom righteousness calls to follow? [10] 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see [11] 41:27 Or Formerly I said (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 94 Psalm 94 (Listen) The Lord Will Not Forsake His People 94   O LORD, God of vengeance,    O God of vengeance, shine forth!2   Rise up, O judge of the earth;    repay to the proud what they deserve!3   O LORD, how long shall the wicked,    how long shall the wicked exult?4   They pour out their arrogant words;    all the evildoers boast.5   They crush your people, O LORD,    and afflict your heritage.6   They kill the widow and the sojourner,    and murder the fatherless;7   and they say, “The LORD does not see;    the God of Jacob does not perceive.” 8   Understand, O dullest of the people!    Fools, when will you be wise?9   He who planted the ear, does he not hear?  He who formed the eye, does he not see?10   He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?  He who teaches man knowledge—