2 Chronicles 32; 2 Chronicles 33; John 18:19-40

1 After Hezekiah did all these things to serve the Lord, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and attacked Judah. He and his army surrounded and attacked the strong, walled cities, hoping to take them for himself.

2 Hezekiah knew that Sennacherib had come to Jerusalem to attack it.

3 So Hezekiah and his officers and army commanders decided to cut off the water from the springs outside the city. So the officers and commanders helped Hezekiah.

4 Many people came and cut off all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. They said, "The king of Assyria will not find much water when he comes here."

5 Then Hezekiah made Jerusalem stronger. He rebuilt all the broken parts of the wall and put towers on it. He also built another wall outside the first one and strengthened the area that was filled in on the east side of the old part of Jerusalem. He also made many weapons and shields.

6 Hezekiah put army commanders over the people and met with them at the open place near the city gate. Hezekiah encouraged them, saying,

7 "Be strong and brave. Don't be afraid or worried because of the king of Assyria or his large army. There is a greater power with us than with him.

8 He only has men, but we have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles." The people were encouraged by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

9 After this King Sennacherib of Assyria and all his army surrounded and attacked Lachish. Then he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah in Jerusalem:

10 Sennacherib king of Assyria says this: "You have nothing to trust in to help you. It is no use for you to stay in Jerusalem under attack.

11 Hezekiah says to you, 'The Lord our God will save us from the king of Assyria,' but he is fooling you. If you stay in Jerusalem, you will die from hun- ger and thirst.

12 Hezekiah himself removed your Lord's places of worship and altars. He told you people of Judah and Jerusalem that you must worship and burn incense on only one altar.

13 "You know what my ancestors and I have done to all the people in other nations. The gods of those nations could not save their people from my power.

14 My ancestors destroyed those nations; none of their gods could save them from me. So your god cannot save you from my power.

15 Do not let Hezekiah fool you or trick you, and do not be-lieve him. No god of any nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from me or my ancestors. Your god is even less able to save you from me."

16 Sennacherib's officers said worse things against the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah.

17 King Sennacherib also wrote letters insulting the Lord, the God of Israel. They spoke against him, saying, "The gods of the other nations could not save their people from me. In the same way Hezekiah's god won't be able to save his people from me."

18 Then the king's officers shouted in Hebrew, calling out to the people of Jerusalem who were on the city wall. The officers wanted to scare the people away so they could capture Jerusalem.

19 They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as though he were like the gods the people of the world worshiped, which are made by human hands.

20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed to heaven about this.

21 Then the Lord sent an angel who killed all the soldiers, leaders, and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king went back to his own country in disgrace. When he went into the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him with a sword.

22 So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people in Jerusalem from Sennacherib king of Assyria and from all other people. He took care of them on every side.

23 Many people brought gifts for the Lord to Jerusalem, and they also brought valuable gifts to King Hezekiah of Judah. From then on all the nations respected Hezekiah.

24 At that time Hezekiah became so sick he almost died. When he prayed to the Lord, the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign.

25 But Hezekiah did not thank God for his kindness, because he was so proud. So the Lord was angry with him and the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

26 But later Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem were sorry and stopped being proud, so the Lord did not punish them while Hezekiah was alive.

27 Hezekiah had many riches and much honor. He made treasuries for his silver, gold, gems, spices, shields, and other valuable things.

28 He built storage buildings for grain, new wine, and oil and stalls for all the cattle and pens for the sheep.

29 He also built many towns. He had many flocks and herds, because God had given Hezekiah much wealth.

30 It was Hezekiah who cut off the upper pool of the Gihon spring and made those waters flow straight down to the west side of the older part of Jerusalem. And Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.

31 But one time the leaders of Babylon sent messengers to Hezekiah, asking him about a strange signn that had happened in the land. When they came, God left Hezekiah alone to test him so he could know everything that was in Hezekiah's heart.

32 Hezekiah's love for God and the other things he did as king are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. This is in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

33 Hezekiah died and was buried on a hill, where the graves of David's ancestors are. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem honored Hezekiah when he died, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he was king for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

2 He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the hateful things the nations had done -- the nations that the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of the Israelites.

3 Manasseh's father, Hezekiah, had torn down the places where gods were worshiped, but Manasseh rebuilt them. He also built altars for the Baal gods, and he made Asherah idols and worshiped all the stars of the sky and served them.

4 The Lord had said about the Temple, "I will be worshiped in Jerusalem forever," but Manasseh built altars in the Temple of the Lord.

5 He built altars to worship the stars in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord.

6 He made his children pass through fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced magic and witchcraft and told the future by explaining signs and dreams. He got advice from mediums and fortune-tellers. He did many things the Lord said were wrong, which made the Lord angry.

7 Manasseh carved an idol and put it in the Temple of God. God had said to David and his son Solomon about the Temple, "I will be worshiped forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.

8 I will never again make the Israelites leave the land I gave to their ancestors. But they must obey everything I have commanded them in all the teachings, rules, and commands I gave them through Moses."

9 But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do wrong. They did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.

11 So the Lord brought the king of Assyria's army commanders to attack Judah. They captured Manasseh, put hooks in him, placed bronze chains on his hands, and took him to Babylon.

12 As Manasseh suffered, he begged the Lord his God for help and humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.

13 When Manasseh prayed, the Lord heard him and had pity on him. So the Lord let him return to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is the true God.

14 After that happened, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of Jerusalem and made it higher. It was in the valley on the west side of the Gihon spring and went to the entrance of the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. Then he put commanders in all the strong, walled cities in Judah.

15 Manasseh removed the idols of other nations, including the idol in the Temple of the Lord. He removed all the altars he had built on the Temple hill and in Jerusalem and threw them out of the city.

16 Then he set up the Lord's altar and sacrificed on it fellowship offerings and offerings to show thanks to God. Manasseh commanded all the people of Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

17 The people continued to offer sacrifices at the places of worship, but their sacrifices were only to the Lord their God.

18 The other things Manasseh did as king, his prayer to his God, and what the seers said to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel -- all are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

19 Manasseh's prayer and God's pity for him, his sins, his unfaithfulness, the places he built for worshiping gods and the Asherah idols before he humbled himself -- all are written in the book of the seers.

20 Manasseh died and was buried in his palace. Then Manasseh's son Amon became king in his place.

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was king for two years in Jerusalem.

22 He did what the Lord said was wrong, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the carved idols Manasseh had made.

23 Amon did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Instead, Amon sinned even more.

24 King Amon's officers made plans against him and killed him in his palace.

25 Then the people of the land killed all those who had made plans to kill King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

19 The high priest asked Jesus questions about his followers and his teaching.

20 Jesus answered, "I have spoken openly to everyone. I have always taught in synagogues and in the Temple, where all the Jews come together. I never said anything in secret.

21 So why do you question me? Ask the people who heard my teaching. They know what I said."

22 When Jesus said this, one of the guards standing there hit him. The guard said, "Is that the way you answer the high priest?"

23 Jesus answered him, "If I said something wrong, then show what it was. But if what I said is true, why do you hit me?"

24 Then Annas sent Jesus, who was still tied, to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 As Simon Peter was standing and warming himself, they said to him, "Aren't you one of that man's followers?" Peter said it was not true; he said, "No, I am not."

26 One of the servants of the high priest was there. This servant was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. The servant said, "Didn't I see you with him in the garden?"

27 Again Peter said it wasn't true. At once a rooster crowed.

28 Early in the morning they led Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman governor's palace. They would not go inside the palace, because they did not want to make themselves unclean; they wanted to eat the Passover meal.

29 So Pilate went outside to them and asked, "What charges do you bring against this man?"

30 They answered, "If he were not a criminal, we wouldn't have brought him to you."

31 Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we are not allowed to put anyone to death," the Jews answered.

32 (This happened so that what Jesus said about how he would die would come true.)

33 Then Pilate went back inside the palace and called Jesus to him and asked, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

34 Jesus said, "Is that your own question, or did others tell you about me?"

35 Pilate answered, "I am not Jewish. It was your own people and their leading priests who handed you over to me. What have you done wrong?"

36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it belonged to this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be given over to the Jews. But my kingdom is from another place."

37 Pilate said, "So you are a king!" Jesus answered, "You are the one saying I am a king. This is why I was born and came into the world: to tell people the truth. And everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me."

38 Pilate said, "What is truth?" After he said this, he went out to the Jews again and said to them, "I find nothing against this man.

39 But it is your custom that I free one prisoner to you at Passover time. Do you want me to free the 'king of the Jews'?"

40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Let Barabbas go free!" (Barabbas was a robber.)