Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

1 ^hIn the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ⁱHezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was ^jtwenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^kAbi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 ^lAnd he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. 4 ^mHe removed the high places and broke the ⁿpillars and cut down ^othe Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^pthe 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 ^qHe trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, ^rso that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 ^sFor he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 ^tAnd the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, ^uhe prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 ^vHe struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, ^wfrom 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, ^xShalmaneser 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 ^yHalah, and on the ^yHabor, ^ythe 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 ^zIn 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.” ^aAnd the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents² of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah ^bgave 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 ^cTartan, 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 ^dthe 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 ^eEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^fShebnah 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 ^ga 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 ^hwhose 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 ^eEliakim the son of Hilkiah, and ^fShebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ⁱAramaic, 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 ^jeach 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, ^ka land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and ^lhoney, 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 ^mHas any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 ⁿWhere are the gods of ^oHamath and ^pArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^qIvvah? 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, ^rthat 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 ^sEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^twith their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Great Is the Lord

¹ A Song of Praise. Of David.

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back ^uthe four winds of the earth, ^vthat no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending ^wfrom the rising of the sun, with ^xthe seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, ^y“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God ^zon their foreheads.” 4 And ^aI heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

A Great Multitude from Every Nation

9 After this I looked, and behold, ^ba great multitude that no one could number, ^cfrom every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, ^dclothed in white robes, with ^epalm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, ^f“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and ^gthe four living creatures, and they ^hfell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 ⁱsaying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, ^dclothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of ^jthe great tribulation. ^kThey have washed their robes and ^lmade them white ^min the blood of the Lamb.

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

1 When the Lamb opened ^uthe seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels ^vwho stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood ^wat the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with ^xthe prayers of all the saints on ^ythe golden altar before the throne, 4 and ^zthe smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and ^afilled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and ^bthere were peals of ^cthunder, rumblings,¹ flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed ^dhail and ^efire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a ^fthird of the earth was burned up, and a third of ^gthe trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like ^ha great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea ⁱbecame blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of ^jthe ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and ^ka great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on ^lthe springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood.² A third of the waters ^mbecame wormwood, and many people died from the water, ⁿbecause it had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of ^othe sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, ^p“Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and ^qI saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given ^rthe key to the shaft of ^sthe bottomless pit.³ 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft ^trose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and ^uthe sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came ^vlocusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told ^wnot to harm ^xthe grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have ^ythe seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them ^zfor five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days ^apeople will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 ^bIn appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: ^con their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were ^dlike human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and ^etheir teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was ^flike the noise of many chariots with ^ghorses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people ^hfor five months is in their tails. 11 They have ⁱas king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is ^jAbaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.⁴

12 ^kThe first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from ^lthe four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release ^mthe four angels who are bound at ⁿthe great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released ^oto kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of ^pmounted troops was ^qtwice ten thousand times ten thousand; ^rI heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire⁵ and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were ^slike lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^tdid not repent of ^uthe works of their hands nor give up worshiping ^vdemons ^wand idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their ^xsorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.