One of his advisers said, “No, my master, O king. The prophet Elisha who lives in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the things you say in your bedroom.”

Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, ¹  for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”

When they went back and told him, he said, “The Lord’s word through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, has come to pass. He warned, ¹  ‘In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.

He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, ¹  in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through ²  his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

Finally ¹  the Lord rejected Israel ²  just as he had warned he would do ³  through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.

But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. ¹  His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.” ² 

Isaiah replied, “This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said. Do you want the shadow to move ahead ten steps or to go back ten steps?” ¹ 

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. ¹  (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh ²  district.) They stated their business, ³ 

‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ¹  and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. ²  You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.

The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. ¹ 

Nebuchadnezzar ¹  took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned.

Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I did not say ¹  to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, ²  ‘Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?’”’

He asked them, “How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” ¹ 

The king refused to listen to the people, because God was instigating this turn of events ¹  so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made ²  through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, “Which way did the Lord’s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?”

and the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the temple of God. Jehoiada ¹  said to them, “The king’s son will rule, just as the Lord promised David’s descendants.

While he was speaking, Amaziah ¹  said to him, “Did we appoint you to be a royal counselor? Stop prophesying or else you will be killed!” ²  So the prophet stopped, but added, “I know that the Lord has decided ³  to destroy you, because you have done this thing and refused to listen to my advice.”

Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites, ¹  who demonstrated great skill in serving the Lord. ²  They feasted for the seven days of the festival, ³  and were making peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors.

The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets ¹  spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded ²  in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

So Hilkiah and the others sent by the king ¹  went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, ²  the supervisor of the wardrobe. ³  (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh ⁴  district.) They stated their business, ⁵