&#8220;This is what Hezekiah says:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is a day of distress, insults,<n id="2" /> and humiliation,<n id="3" /> as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.<n id="4" />

<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" />

One day,<n id="1" /> as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,<n id="2" /> his sons<n id="3" /> Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.<n id="4" /> They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In those days Hezekiah was stricken with a terminal illness.<n id="1" /> The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and told him, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Give your household instructions, for you are about to die; you will not get well.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the <sc>Lordsc> had said to David and to his son Solomon, &#8220;This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.<n id="1" />

He removed the Asherah pole from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it.<n id="1" /> He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard.<n id="2" />

The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction,<n id="1" /> that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom.

<p class="bodytext">He also tore down the altar in Bethel<n id="1" /> at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin.<n id="2" /> He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole.<n id="3" />

His servants transported his dead body<n id="1" /> from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah&#8217;s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head,<n id="2" /> and made him king in his father&#8217;s place.p>

Pharaoh Necho made Josiah&#8217;s son Eliakim king in Josiah&#8217;s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died.<n id="1" />

The <sc>Lordsc> sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders.<n id="1" /> The king<n id="2" /> sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived,<n id="3" /> Elisha<n id="4" /> said to the leaders,<n id="5" /> &#8220;Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?&#8221;<n id="6" /> Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.&#8221;<n id="7" />

<p class="bodytext">When he left there, he met<n id="1" /> Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him.<n id="2" /> Jehu greeted him and asked,<n id="3" /> &#8220;Are you as committed to me as I am to you?&#8221;<n id="4" /> Jehonadab answered, &#8220;I am!&#8221; Jehu replied, &#8220;If so, give me your hand.&#8221;<n id="5" /> So he offered his hand and Jehu<n id="6" /> pulled him up into the chariot.

King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, &#8220;A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, &#8216;Give your daughter to my son as a wife.&#8217; Then a wild animal<n id="1" /> of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn.<n id="2" />