So the horseman<n id="1" /> went to meet him and said, &#8220;This is what the king says, &#8216;Is everything all right?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" /> Jehu replied, &#8220;None of your business!<n id="3" /> Follow me.&#8221; The watchman reported, &#8220;The messenger reached them, but hasn&#8217;t started back.&#8221;

When they went back and told him, he said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s word through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, has come to pass. He warned,<n id="1" /> &#8216;In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel&#8217;s flesh.

So the palace supervisor,<n id="1" /> the city commissioner,<n id="2" /> the leaders,<n id="3" /> and the guardians sent this message to Jehu, &#8220;We are your subjects!<n id="4" /> Whatever you say, we will do. We will not make anyone king. Do what you consider proper.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do,<n id="2" /> and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do.<n id="3" /> A man must be put to death only for his own sin.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

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;

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, &#8220;Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.&#8221;<n id="1" />

The king of Assyria was told,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people<n id="2" /> because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.&#8221;

So the king of Assyria ordered, &#8220;Take back one of the priests whom you<n id="1" /> deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.&#8221;<n id="2" />

until I come and take you to a land just like your own &#8211; a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don&#8217;t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will rescue us.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says: &#8216;I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria.<n id="1" />

The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king&#8217;s servant,

<p class="bodytext">The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, &#8216;When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">He wrote them a second letter, saying, &#8220;If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me,<n id="1" /> then take the heads of your master&#8217;s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Now the king had seventy sons, and the prominent<n id="3" /> men of the city were raising them.

King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, &#8220;I have violated our treaty.<n id="1" /> If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.&#8221;<n id="2" /> So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents<n id="3" /> of silver and thirty talents of gold.

King Ahaz ordered Uriah the priest, &#8220;On the large altar<n id="1" /> offer the morning burnt sacrifice, the evening grain offering, the royal burnt sacrifices and grain offering, the burnt sacrifice for all the people of Israel, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt sacrifice and other sacrifices on it. The bronze altar will be for my personal use.&#8221;<n id="2" />