-Israel-

And Jeroboam II slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his place.

In the thirty-eighth year of Uzziah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam II reign over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against Zachariah, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place. Shallum…began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum…in Samaria, and killed him, and ruled in his place.

In the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. And Menahem did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place. And Pekahiah did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against Pekahiah… and…killed him, and reigned in his place. And Pekah did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

-Isaiah-

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his owner, and the mule his master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.

" Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither softened with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate….

" Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

"Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tambourine, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

"Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have thrown away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."

-Judah-

Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial, which belonged to the kings; for they said, "He is a leper": and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

In the second year of Pekah…king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: except he entered not into the temple of the LORD. So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.

Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

-Isaiah offers God his service-

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.

"And one cried unto another, and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.’"

"And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

"Then said I, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’

"Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, ‘Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’

"Then said I, Here am I; send me.

"And he said, ‘Go, and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.’ "

And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the king of Israel, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father: For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molded images for Baalim. Furthermore Ahaz burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

Therefore the LORD his God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Syria; and Syria struck Ahaz, and carried away a great multitude of Judah captives, and brought them to Damascus. And Ahaz was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great slaughter.

Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field; And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because they have taken evil counsel against you, saying, ‘Let us go up against Judah, and distress it, and let us make a break in it for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal’: This says the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass."

Furthermore the LORD spoke again unto Ahaz, saying, "Ask…a sign of the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above."

But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I test the LORD."

And God said, "Hear…now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Look, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that you fear shall be forsaken of both her kings. The LORD shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father's house…the king of Assyria.

"Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

-Prophecy of the Messiah-

"Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the LORD, that hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Look, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in Mount Zion.

"And when they shall say unto you, ‘Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter’: should not a people seek unto their God?

…To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

"Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as…when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict those…in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that live in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

-Judah-

And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.

But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said unto them, "Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have killed them in a rage that reaches up unto heaven.

"Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which you have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you."

And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them…and put shoes on them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

And the king of Assyria listened to Ahaz: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him; For again the Edomites had come and struck Judah, and carried away captives. The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages around them, and Timnah with the surrounding villages, Gimzo also and the villages nearby: And the Philistines lived there. For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz…for he made Judah naked, and transgressed terribly against the LORD.

And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto Ahaz, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.

And in the time of his distress did Ahaz sin yet more against the LORD: this is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which struck him: and he said, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me." But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

REFERENCES

2 Kings 14:29; 2 Kings 15:8-10, 13-14, 17-18, 22, 24-25, 28; Isaiah 1:1-3, 5-7, 16-18; Isaiah 5:11-13, 24; 2 Chronicles 26:22-23; 2 Kings 15:32; 2 Chronicles 27:2a, 6-8; Isaiah 6:1-10; 2 Chronicles 27:9; 2 Kings 16:1; 2 Chronicles 28:1-5; Isaiah 7:3-7, 10-14, 16-17; Isaiah 8:13-20; Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7; 2 Chronicles 28:8-9,11,15; 2 Kings 16:7-9; 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Chronicles 28:16-23.

CHAPTER 42