2 Kings 19; Hebrews 1; Hosea 12; Psalms 135–136

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2 Kings 19

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

uAs soon as King Hezekiah heard it, the tore his clothes and vcovered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, vcovered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 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. wIt may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent xto mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ythe remnant that is left. When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 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 zthe servants of the king of Assyria have areviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that bhe shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him cfall by the sword in his own land.

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against dLibnah, for he heard that the king had left eLachish. fNow 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 gin whom you trust deceive you by promising that hJerusalem 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 iHave the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, jGozan, kHaran, Rezeph, and the people of lEden who were in Telassar? 13 mWhere 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 nthe 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, oenthroned above the cherubim, pyou are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 qIncline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ropen your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent sto 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, tbut 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, uthat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that pyou, 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 vI have heard. 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

She despises you, she scorns you

wthe virgin daughter of Zion;

she xwags her head behind you

the daughter of Jerusalem.

22  Whom have you ymocked and zreviled?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes to the heights?

Against athe Holy One of Israel!

23  bBy your messengers you have mocked the Lord,

and you have said, cWith my many chariots

I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of dLebanon;

I felled its tallest cedars,

its choicest cypresses;

I entered its farthest lodging place,

its most efruitful forest.

24  I dug wells

and drank foreign waters,

and I dried up with the sole of my foot

all the streams fof Egypt.

25  Have you not heard

that gI determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old

what hnow 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 ilike 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

jand 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 kput my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth,

and lI will turn you back on the way

by which you came.

29 And this shall be mthe 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 nAnd 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 oa band of survivors. pThe 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 qcast up a siege mound against it. 33 rBy the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 sFor I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake tand for the sake of my servant David.

35 And that night uthe 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 vNineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, wAdrammelech 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.


Hebrews 1

The Supremacy of God’s Son

Long ago, at many times and ain many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but bin these last days che has spoken to us by dhis Son, whom he appointed ethe heir of all things, fthrough whom also he created gthe world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and hthe exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. iAfter making purification for sins, jhe sat down kat the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name lhe has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

mYou are my Son,

today I have begotten you?

Or again,

nI will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son?

And again, when he brings othe firstborn into the world, he says,

pLet all God’s angels worship him.

Of the angels he says,

qHe makes his angels winds,

and his ministers a flame of fire.

But of the Son he says,

rYour throne, O God, is forever and ever,

the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, shas anointed you

with tthe oil of gladness beyond your companions.

10 And,

uYou, 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 vthe same,

and your years will have no end.

13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,

wSit at my right hand

xuntil I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits ysent out to serve for the sake of those who are to zinherit salvation?


Hosea 12

Ephraim feeds on the wind

and pursues zthe east wind all day long;

they multiply yfalsehood and violence;

athey make a covenant with Assyria,

and boil is carried to Egypt.

The Lord’s Indictment of Israel and Judah

cThe Lord has an indictment against Judah

and will punish Jacob according to his ways;

he will repay him according to his deeds.

dIn the womb he took his brother by the heel,

and in his manhood he strove with God.

He strove with the angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought his favor.

eHe met God1 at Bethel,

and there God spoke with us

the Lord, the God of hosts,

fthe Lord is his memorial name:

So you, gby the help of your God, return,

hhold fast to love and justice,

and wait continually for your God.

A merchant, in whose hands are ifalse balances,

he loves jto oppress.

Ephraim has said, Ah, but kI am rich;

I have found wealth for myself;

in all my labors lthey cannot find in me iniquity or sin.

mI am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

I will again make you ndwell in tents,

as in the days of the appointed feast.

10  oI spoke to the prophets;

it was I who multiplied pvisions,

and through the prophets gave parables.

11  qIf there is iniquity in Gilead,

they shall surely come to nothing:

rin Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;

stheir altars also are like stone heaps

ton the furrows of the field.

12  uJacob fled to the land of Aram;

there Israel vserved for a wife,

and for a wife he guarded sheep.

13  By wa prophet xthe Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,

and by a prophet he was guarded.

14  yEphraim has given bitter provocation;

so his Lord zwill leave his bloodguilt on him

aand will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.


Psalms 135–136

Your Name, O Lord, Endures Forever

uPraise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord,

give praise, O vservants of the Lord,

who nstand in the house of the Lord,

in wthe courts of the house of our God!

Praise the Lord, for xthe Lord is good;

sing to his name, yfor it is pleasant!1

For the Lord has zchosen Jacob for himself,

Israel as his aown possession.

For I know that bthe Lord is great,

and that our Lord is above all gods.

cWhatever the Lord pleases, he does,

in heaven and on earth,

in the seas and all deeps.

dHe it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,

who emakes lightnings for the rain

and brings forth the wind from his fstorehouses.

He it was who gstruck down the firstborn of Egypt,

both of man and of beast;

who in your midst, O Egypt,

sent hsigns and wonders

against Pharaoh and all his servants;

10  iwho struck down many nations

and killed mighty kings,

11  jSihon, king of the Amorites,

and kOg, king of Bashan,

and lall the kingdoms of Canaan,

12  and mgave their land as a heritage,

a heritage to his people Israel.

13  nYour name, O Lord, endures forever,

oyour renown,2 O Lord, throughout all ages.

14  pFor the Lord will vindicate his people

and qhave compassion on his servants.

15  rThe 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  sO 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 tfrom Zion,

he who udwells in Jerusalem!

vPraise the Lord!

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

wGive thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

xfor his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to ythe God of gods,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to ythe Lord of lords,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who alone zdoes great wonders,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who aby understanding bmade the heavens,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who cspread out the earth dabove the waters,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who emade the great lights,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

the sun to rule over the day,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

the moon and stars to rule over the night,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

10  to him who fstruck down the firstborn of Egypt,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

11  and gbrought Israel out from among them,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

12  with ha strong hand and an outstretched arm,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

13  to him who idivided the Red Sea in two,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

14  jand made Israel pass through the midst of it,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

15  but koverthrew3 Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

16  to him who lled his people through the wilderness,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

17  to him mwho 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 nservant,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

23  It is he who oremembered us in our low estate,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

24  and prescued us from our foes,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

25  he who qgives food to all flesh,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

26  Give thanks to rthe God of heaven,

for his steadfast love endures forever.