Generous Giving

2 Corinthians 8 My friends, we want you to know that the churches in Macedonia have shown others how kind God is. ²Although they were going through hard times and were very poor, they were glad to give generously. ³They gave as much as they could afford and even more, simply because they wanted to. ⁴They even asked and begged us to let them have the joy of giving their money for God's people. ⁵And they did more than we had hoped. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, just as God wanted them to do.
⁶Titus was the one who got you started doing this good thing, so we begged him to have you finish what you had begun. ⁷You do everything better than anyone else. You have stronger faith. You speak better and know more. You are eager to give, and you love us better. Now you must give more generously than anyone else.
⁸I am not ordering you to do this. I am simply testing how real your love is by comparing it with the concern that others have shown. ⁹You know that our Lord Jesus Christ was kind enough to give up all his riches and become poor, so that you could become rich.
¹⁰A year ago you were the first ones to give, and you gave because you wanted to. So listen to my advice. ¹¹I think you should finish what you started. If you give according to what you have, you will prove that you are as eager to give as you were to think about giving. ¹²It doesn't matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have.
¹³I am not trying to make life easier for others by making life harder for you. But it is only fair ¹⁴for you to share with them when you have so much, and they have so little. Later, when they have more than enough, and you are in need, they can share with you. Then everyone will have a fair share, ¹⁵just as the Scriptures say,
"Those who gathered too much had nothing left.
Those who gathered only a little had all they needed."

Titus and His Friends

¹⁶I am grateful that God made Titus care as much about you as we do. ¹⁷When we begged Titus to visit you, he said he would. He wanted to because he cared so much for you. ¹⁸With Titus we are also sending one of the Lord's followers who is well known in every church for spreading the good news. ¹⁹The churches chose this follower to travel with us while we carry this gift that will bring praise to the Lord and show how much we hope to help. ²⁰We don't want anyone to find fault with the way we handle your generous gift. ²¹But we want to do what pleases the Lord and what people think is right.
²²We are also sending someone else with Titus and the other follower. We approve of this man. In fact, he has already shown us many times that he wants to help. And now he wants to help even more than ever, because he trusts you so much. ²³Titus is my partner, who works with me to serve you. The other two followers are sent by the churches, and they bring honor to Christ. ²⁴Treat them in such a way that the churches will see your love and will know why we bragged about you.

Hezekiah Gets Sick and Almost Dies
(2 Chronicles 32.24-26; Isaiah 38.1-8, 21, 22)

2 Kings 20 About this time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. Isaiah the prophet went in and told him, "The LORD says you won't ever get well. You are going to die, so you had better start doing what needs to be done."
²Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed, ³"Don't forget that I have been faithful to you, LORD. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right." After this, he cried hard.
⁴Before Isaiah got to the middle court of the palace, ⁵the LORD sent him back to Hezekiah with this message:

Hezekiah, you are the ruler of my people, and I am the LORD God, who was worshiped by your ancestor David. I heard you pray, and I saw you cry. I will heal you, so that three days from now you will be able to worship in my temple. ⁶I will let you live fifteen years more, while I protect you and your city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city as an honor to me and to my servant David.

⁷Then Isaiah said to the king's servants, "Bring some mashed figs and place them on the king's open sore. He will then get well."
⁸Hezekiah asked Isaiah, "Can you prove that the LORD will heal me, so that I can worship in his temple in three days?"
⁹Isaiah replied, "The LORD will prove to you that he will keep his promise. Will the shadow made by the setting sun on the stairway go forward ten steps or back ten steps?"
¹⁰"It's normal for the sun to go forward," Hezekiah answered. "But how can it go back?"
¹¹Isaiah prayed, and the LORD made the shadow go back ten steps on the stairway built for King Ahaz.

The LORD Is Still with Hezekiah
(Isaiah 39.1-8)

¹²Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah had been sick, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him. ¹³Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oils that were in his storehouse. He even showed them where he kept his weapons. Nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom was kept hidden from them.
¹⁴Isaiah asked Hezekiah, "Where did these men come from? What did they want?"
"They came all the way from Babylonia," Hezekiah answered.
¹⁵"What did you show them?" Isaiah asked.
Hezekiah answered, "I showed them everything in my kingdom."
¹⁶Then Isaiah told Hezekiah:

I have a message for you from the LORD. ¹⁷One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The LORD has promised that nothing will be left. ¹⁸Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king's palace.

¹⁹Hezekiah thought, "At least our nation will be at peace for a while." So he told Isaiah, "The message you brought me from the LORD is good."

Hezekiah Dies
(2 Chronicles 32.32, 33)

²⁰Everything else Hezekiah did while he was king, including how he made the upper pool and tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem, is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ²¹Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became king.

King Manasseh of Judah
(2 Chronicles 33.1-20)

2 Kings 21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled fifty-five years from Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah. ²Manasseh disobeyed the LORD by following the disgusting customs of the nations that the LORD had forced out of Israel. ³He rebuilt the local shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He built altars for the god Baal and set up a sacred pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. And he faithfully worshiped the stars in heaven.
⁴In the temple, where only the LORD was supposed to be worshiped, Manasseh built altars for pagan gods ⁵and for the stars. He placed these altars in both courts of the temple, ^6-7and even set up the pole for Asherah there. Manasseh practiced magic and witchcraft; he asked fortunetellers for advice and sacrificed his own son. He did many sinful things and made the LORD very angry.
Years ago the LORD had told David and his son Solomon:

Jerusalem is the place I prefer above all others in Israel. It belongs to me, and there I will be worshiped forever. ⁸If my people will faithfully obey all the commands in the Law of my servant Moses, I will never make them leave the land I gave to their ancestors.

⁹But the people of Judah disobeyed the LORD. They listened to Manasseh and did even more sinful things than the nations the LORD had wiped out.
¹⁰One day the LORD said to some of his prophets:

¹¹King Manasseh has done more disgusting things than the Amorites, and he has led my people to sin by forcing them to worship his idols. ¹²Now I, the LORD God of Israel, will destroy both Jerusalem and Judah! People will hear about it but won't believe it. ¹³Jerusalem is as sinful as Ahab and the people of Samaria were. So I will wipe out Jerusalem and be done with it, just as someone wipes water off a plate and turns it over to dry.

¹⁴I will even get rid of my people who survive. They will be defeated and robbed by their enemies. ¹⁵My people have done what I hate and have not stopped making me angry since their ancestors left Egypt.

¹⁶Manasseh was guilty of causing the people of Judah to sin and disobey the LORD. He also refused to protect innocent people--he even let so many of them be killed that their blood filled the streets of Jerusalem.
¹⁷Everything else Manasseh did while he was king, including his terrible sins, is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ¹⁸He died and was buried in Uzza Garden near his palace, and his son Amon became king.

King Amon of Judah
(2 Chronicles 33. 21-25)

¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for two years. His mother Meshullemeth was the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. ²⁰Amon disobeyed the LORD, just as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹Amon worshiped the idols Manasseh had made and ²²refused to be faithful to the LORD, the God his ancestors had worshiped.
²³Some of Amon's officials plotted against him and killed him in his palace. ^24-26He was buried in Uzza Garden. Soon after that, the people of Judah killed the murderers of Amon, then they made his son Josiah king.
Everything else Amon did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah.

Nineveh Will Fall

Nahum 2 Nineveh, someone is coming to attack and scatter you.
Guard your fortresses! Watch the road!
Be brave! Prepare for battle!
²Judah and Israel are like trees
with branches broken by their enemies.
But the LORD is going to restore
their power and glory.

^*3Nineveh, on this day of attack,
your enemies' shields are red;
their uniforms are crimson.
⁴Their horses prance,
and their armored chariots dart around
like lightning or flaming torches.
⁵An officer gives a command.
But his soldiers stumble, as they hasten to build a shelter
to protect themselves against rocks
thrown down from the city wall.

⁶The river gates fly open, and panic floods the palace.
⁷Nineveh is disgraced. The queen is dragged off.
Her servant women mourn; they sound like doves,
and they beat their breasts in sorrow.
⁸Nineveh is like a pond with leaking water.
Shouts of "Stop! Don't go!" can be heard everywhere.
But everyone is leaving.

⁹Enemy soldiers shout, "The city is full of treasure
and all kinds of wealth.
Steal her silver! Grab her gold!"

¹⁰Nineveh is doomed! Destroyed!
Her people tremble with fear; their faces turn pale.
¹¹What happened to this city?
They were safer there than powerful lions in a den,
with no one to disturb them.
¹²These are the same lions
that ferociously attacked their victims,
then dragged away the flesh to feed their young.

¹³The LORD All-Powerful, is against you, Nineveh.
God will burn your chariots and send an army
to kill those young lions of yours.
You will never again make victims of others
or send messengers to threaten everyone on this earth.