2 Corinthians 8; 2 Kings 20; 2 Kings 21; Nahum 2

2 Corinthians 8

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia:

2 during a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity.

3 I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability,

4 they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints,

5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves especially to the Lord, then to us by God's will.

6 So we urged Titus that, just as he had begun, so he should also complete this grace to you.

7 Now as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us-excel also in this grace.

8 I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: although He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.

10 Now I am giving an opinion on this because it is profitable for you, who a year ago began not only to do something but also to desire it.

11 But now finish the task as well, that just as there was eagerness to desire it, so there may also be a completion from what you have.

12 For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

13 It is not that there may be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality-

14 at the present time your surplus is [available] for their need, so that their abundance may also become [available] for your need, that there may be equality.

15 As it has been written: The person who gathered much did not have too much, and the person who gathered little did not have too little.

16 Thanks be to God who put the same diligence for you into the heart of Titus.

17 For he accepted our urging and, being very diligent, went out to you by his own choice.

18 With him we have sent the brother who is praised throughout the churches for his gospel ministry.

19 And not only that, but he was also appointed by the churches to accompany us with this gift that is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself and to show our eagerness [to help].

20 We are taking this precaution so no one can find fault with us concerning this large sum administered by us.

21 For we are making provision for what is honorable, not only before the Lord but also before men.

22 We have also sent with them our brother whom we have often tested, in many circumstances, and found diligent-and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

23 As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker serving you; as for our brothers, they are the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.

24 Therefore, before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our boasting about you.

2 Kings 20

1 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, "This is what the Lord says: 'Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.' "

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,

3 "Please Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him:

5 "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, 'This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day [from now] you will go up to the Lord's temple.

6 I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.' "

7 Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of pressed figs." So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.

8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord's temple on the third day?"

9 Isaiah said, "This is the sign to you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: Should the shadow go ahead 10 steps or go back 10 steps?"

10 Then Hezekiah answered, "It's easy for the shadow to lengthen 10 steps. No, let the shadow go back 10 steps."

11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow back the 10 steps it had descended on Ahaz's stairway.

12 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

13 Hezekiah gave them a hearing and showed them his whole treasure house-the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil-and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

14 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men say, and where did they come to you from?" Hezekiah replied, "They came from a distant country, from Babylon."

15 Isaiah asked, "What have they seen in your palace?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything in my palace. There isn't anything in my treasuries that I didn't show them."

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord:

17 'The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,' says the Lord.

18 'Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.' "

19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good," for he thought: Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?

20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah's [reign], along with all his might and how he made the pool and the tunnel and brought water into the city, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.

21 Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

2 Kings 21

1 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king; he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.

2 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, imitating the abominations of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.

4 He would build altars in the Lord's temple, where the Lord had said, "Jerusalem is where I will put My name."

5 He built altars to the whole heavenly host in both courtyards of the Lord's temple.

6 He made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a great amount of evil in the Lord's sight, provoking [Him].

7 Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah he made in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon, "I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

8 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them-the whole law that My servant Moses commanded them."

9 But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did greater evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

10 The Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying,

11 "Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations-greater evil than the Amorites who preceded him had done-and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin,

12 this is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.

13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line [used on] Samaria and the mason's level [used on] the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl-wiping it and turning it upside down.

14 I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,

15 because they have done what is evil in My sight and have provoked Me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.' "

16 Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another. This was in addition to his sin he caused Judah to commit so that they did what was evil in the Lord's sight.

17 The rest of the events of Manasseh's [reign], along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.

18 Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.

19 Amon was 22 years old when he became king; he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; [she was] from Jotbah.

20 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight as his father Manasseh had done.

21 He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he worshiped them.

22 He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors and did not walk in the way of the Lord.

23 Amon's servants conspired against the king and killed him in his own house.

24 Then the common people executed all those who had conspired against King Amon and made his son Josiah king in his place.

25 The rest of the events of Amon's [reign], along with his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.

26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Nahum 2

1 One who scatters is coming up against you. Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength!

2 For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, yes, the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their vine branches.

3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the valiant men are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariot flash like fire on the day of its [battle] preparations, and the spears are brandished.

4 The chariots dash madly through the streets; they rush around in the plazas. They look like torches; they dart back and forth like lightning.

5 He gives orders to his officers; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

6 The river gates are opened, and the palace erodes away.

7 Beauty is stripped, she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves, and beat their breasts.

8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her [first] days, but they are fleeing. "Stop! Stop!" [they cry,] but no one turns back.

9 "Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!" There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

10 Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, loins shake, every face grows pale!

11 Where is the lions' lair, or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled, and the lion's cub, with nothing to frighten them away?

12 The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed and strangled [prey] for its lionesses. It filled up its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.

13 Beware, I am against you- the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. I will make your chariots go up in smoke and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again.