Day 198 of 365

2 Kgs 19:1–20:21

19:1 It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

19:2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

19:3 They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

19:4 It may be the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

19:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

19:6 Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall tell your master, 'Thus says the Lord, "Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

19:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

19:9 When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

19:10 'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

19:11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered?

19:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?

19:13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?"'"

19:14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

19:15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, "The Lord, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

19:16 Incline your ear, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent to defy the living God.

19:17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

19:18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

19:19 Now therefore, the Lord our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God alone."

19:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.

19:21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: "The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

19:22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

19:23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.

19:24 I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.'

19:25 Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

19:26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up.

19:27 But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me.

19:28 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came."

19:29 "'This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

19:30 The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

19:31 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.'

19:32 "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 'He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.

19:33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city,' says the Lord.

19:34 'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

19:35 It happened that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.

19:37 It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

20:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.'"

20:2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,

20:3 "Remember now, Lord, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

20:4 It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

20:5 "Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

20:6 I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake."'"

20:7 Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs." They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

20:8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?"

20:9 Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?"

20:10 Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps."

20:11 Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz.

20:12 At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

20:13 Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.

20:14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? From where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, even from Babylon."

20:15 He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

20:16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord.

20:17 'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says the Lord.

20:18 'Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

20:19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?"

20:20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

20:21 Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Acts 18:20–19:12

18:20 When they asked him to stay a longer time, he declined;

18:21 but taking his leave of them, and saying, "I will return again to you if God wills," he set sail from Ephesus.

18:22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch.

18:23 Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.

18:24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures.

18:25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.

18:26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

18:27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;

18:28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.

19:1 It happened that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.

19:2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They said to him, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

19:3 He said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism."

19:4 Paul said, "John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus."

19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

19:6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.

19:7 They were about twelve men in all.

19:8 He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning the Kingdom of God.

19:9 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

19:10 This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

19:11 God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul,

19:12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil spirits went out.

Song 4:7–16

7 You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.

8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all manner of spices!

11 Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

12 A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: henna with spikenard plants,

14 spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

15 a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon. Beloved

16 Awake, north wind; and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits. Lover