escaped out of the hand of Assyria, and keep the Passover at Jerusalem. So the Posts passed from City to City, but many laughed them to scorn and mocked them; but in Judah there was one heart to do the Commandment of the King, and when all was finished, they went out and brake down the Images and High Places, and cut down the Groves in all Judah and Benjamin, until they had destroyed them all. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him of all the Kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. And the Lord was with him, and he prospered whithersoever he went forth; and he rebelled against the King of Assyria and served him not. He smote the Philistines even unto Gaza, from the Tower of the Watchmen to the fenced City; and in every work that he began he sought his God with all his heart and prospered.

And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, come up against all the fenced Cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah sent to Sennacherib to Lachish, saying, I have offended. Return, and what thou puttest on me I will bear; and Sennacherib appointed unto Hezekiah, a tribute of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was in the King's house, and cut off the gold from the doors of the Temple, and gave it to the King of Assyria.

But Sennacherib sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, with a great Host to fight against Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah stopped the waters of the fountains without the City, so that the Assyrians had no water, and he repaired the walls and towns, and made darts and shields in abundance, and he made Captains of

war over the People, and spake comfortably to them, saying, Be not afraid for their multitude, for there be more with us than with him. With him is the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And Rabshakeh called to the People on the walls, and said, Thus saith the great King, the King of Assyria, what confidence is this wherein thou trustest? behold, thou trustest on the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it so is Pharaoh, King of Egypt, unto all that trust upon him. Now make an agreement with me with a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own Vine, and every one of his Fig Tree. And hearken not unto Hezekiah when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Who are they among the Gods of the Countries that have delivered their Country out of mine hand? Where are the Gods of Hamoth, and of Arphad, of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? And shall the Lord deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

But the People held their peace, and answered not a word, for the King's Commandment was, saying, Answer him not. And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of the Lord.

And the King sent to Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz,—and Isaiah said, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard; behold I will send a blast upon the King of Assyria, and he shall hear a rumour and shall return to his own Land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own Land. By the way that he came, the same shall he return, and shall not come

Into this City, saith the Lord. For I will defend this City to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

And it came to pass that night, that the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.

So Sennacherib departed with shame of face to his own Land, and dwelt at Nineveh; and as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his God, Adramelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the Land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead. And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor, and prospered in all his works.

CHAPTER 91.

DEATH OF HEZEKIAH.

IN those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, and the Prophet Isaiah came, and said to him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order for thou shall die.Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and Hezekiah wept. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again and tell Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold I will heal thee, on the third day thou shalt go up unto the House of the Lord; and I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And Hezekiah said, What shall be a sign? And Isaiah said, Shall the Sun's shadow go

forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Isaiah cried unto the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

At that time the King of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, and Hezekiah in the pride of his heart, shewed them all his treasures. Then came Isaiah the Prophet, and said, Hear the word of the Lord, Behold the days come, that all that is in thine house, shall be carried into Babylon; nothing shall be left saith the Lord. And Hezekiah said, Good is the word of the Lord, it is his will. Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? And Hezekiah reigned in peace fifteen years. And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh, his son, reigned in his stead.

In the year before Christ 698, Manasseh being twelve years old began to reign, and he reigned fiftyfive years in Jerusalem, and he built up again the high places, which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed, and made a grove, as did Ahab, King of Israel, and worshipped all the Host of Heaven, and served them.

And the Lord spake by his servants the Prophets. saying, Because Manasseh, King of Judah, hath done these abominations, and hath made Israel to sin with his Idols; therefore behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. But Manasseh and the People would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captain of the Host of the King of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters, and carried him

to Babylon. And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and God heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom.Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.

CHAPTER 92.

THE GOOD KING JOSIAH.

IN the year before Christ 643, Manasseh was succeeded by his son Ammon. And in 641, Ammon was succeeded by his son Josiah.

King Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.— And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David, his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, he gave all the money that was brought into the House of the Lord, to the Builders, and Carpenters, and Masons; to buy Timber and hewn Stone, to repair the House of the Lord. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money, because they dealt faithfully.

And Hilkiah the High Priest, said to Shaphen the Scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the House of the Lord, and Hilkiah gave the Book to Shaphen, and he read it:-the Book probably which Moses himself wrote, and which during the reign of the bad King Manasseh had been lost.

And Shaphen read the Book before the King, and the King wept. And the King went up into the House of the Lord, with all the Men of Judah and Jerusalem, the Priests and the Prophets, and all the People, both small and great, and he read in their ears all the words