ments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

After these things Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against Jerusalem, and defied the Lord God of Israel; but Hezekiah prayed to the Lord.

And the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons slew him there with the sword.

Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from the hands of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.

And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents unto Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death: and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

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 have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him saying,

Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, 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 I will deliver thee out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs: and they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign

that the Lord shall heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day.

And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees?

And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

And when Hezekiah had reigned twenty and nine years, in Jerusalem, he was gathered to his fathers.

MANASSEH, the son of Hezekiah, reigned in the room of his father. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

And he caused his children to pass through the fire, in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. And he set a carved image in the house of God.

So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

And the Lord spake unto Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains 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 prayed unto God: and God was entreated of

:

him, and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God:

And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings, and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

Nevertheless, the people did still sacrifice in the high places yet unto the Lord their God only. Fifty and five years reigned Manasseh in Jerusalem, and he was gathered to his fathers, and they buried him in his own house.

AMON was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them,

:

And humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself: but Amon trespassed more and more. And his servants conspired against him and

slew him in his own house.

LESSON CXVIII.

JOSIAH, the son of Amon, was made king in his stead; he was eight years old when he began to reign.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right nor to the left. And he repaired the house of the Lord.

And he destroyed all the high places round about Jerusalem, of them that worshipped Baal, the sun and the moon, and the planets, and all the host of heaven.

And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men,

Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

And like unto Josiah was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him arose there any like him.

Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

And Josiah went up against Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt, and was slain at Megiddo. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre.

JEHOAHAZ the son of Josiah was anointed king in the stead of his father. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all his fathers had done.

And when he had reigned three months Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt and died there.

JEHOIAKIM reigned in Jerusalem, but he paid tribute for his kingdom to Pharaoh-nechoh. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

LESSON CXIX. DANIEL, CHAP. I.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his god.

And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;

Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.

Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar: and to Hananiah, of Shadrach : and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs;

And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my Lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your face worse liking than the children that are of your sort: then shall ye endanger my head to the king.

Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and