When the king arrived back from Damascus and<n id="1" /> saw the altar, he approached it<n id="2" /> and offered a sacrifice on it.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah&#8217;s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

<p class="bodytext">Hezekiah took the letter<n id="1" /> from the messengers and read it.<n id="2" /> Then Hezekiah went up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and spread it out before the <sc>Lordsc>.

<p class="poetry">Because you rage against me,p> <p class="poetry">and the uproar you create has reached my ears;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will put my hook in your nose,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and my bridle between your lips,p> <p class="poetry">and I will lead you back the wayp> <p class="poetry">you came.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, &#8220;What is the confirming sign that the <sc>Lordsc> will heal me and that I will go up to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple the day after tomorrow?&#8221;

&#8220;Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down<n id="1" /> the silver that has been brought by the people to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door.

(Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the <sc>Lordsc> in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.)<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">During Jehoiakim&#8217;s reign,<n id="1" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked.<n id="2" /> Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser<n id="1" /> from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went<n id="3" /> and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.<n id="4" />

They replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;A man came up to meet us. He told us, &#8220;Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron.<n id="2" /> Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">But the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, &#8220;Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: &#8216;You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">The king<n id="1" /> sent a captain and his fifty soldiers<n id="2" /> to retrieve Elijah.<n id="3" /> The captain<n id="4" /> went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill.<n id="5" /> He told him, &#8220;Prophet,<n id="6" /> the king says, &#8216;Come down!&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">The king<n id="1" /> sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell<n id="2" /> on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, &#8220;Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.

He sent<n id="1" /> this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: &#8220;The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you fight with me against Moab?&#8221; Jehoshaphat<n id="2" /> replied, &#8220;I will join you in the campaign; my army and horses are at your disposal.&#8221;<n id="3" />

So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel,<n id="1" /> so they broke off the attack<n id="2" /> and returned to their homeland.p>

He got up on the bed and spread his body out over<n id="1" /> the boy; he put his mouth on the boy&#8217;s<n id="2" /> mouth, his eyes over the boy&#8217;s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy&#8217;s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy&#8217;s skin<n id="3" /> grew warm.

Elisha<n id="1" /> went back and walked around in the house.<n id="2" /> Then he got up on the bed again<n id="3" /> and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

<p class="bodytext">Jehoash said to the priests, &#8220;I place at your disposal<n id="1" /> all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax,<n id="2" /> the silver received from those who have made vows,<n id="3" /> and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="4" />

When they saw the chest was full of silver, the royal secretary<n id="1" /> and the high priest counted the silver that had been brought to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and bagged it up.<n id="2" />

Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, &#8220;I am your servant and your dependent.<n id="1" /> March up and rescue me from the power<n id="2" /> of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked<n id="3" /> me.&#8221;