2 Kings 20

• 1. About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: "This is what the LORD says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness."
• 2. When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
• 3. "Remember, O LORD, how I have always tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing in your sight." Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
• 4. But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the LORD:
• 5. "Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, `This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD.
• 6. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will do this to defend my honor and for the sake of my servant David.'"
• 7. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah's servants, "Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil." They did this, and Hezekiah recovered!
• 8. Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, "What sign will the LORD give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of the LORD three days from now?"
• 9. Isaiah replied, "This is the sign that the LORD will give you to prove he will do as he promised. Would you like the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?"
• 10. "The shadow always moves forward," Hezekiah replied. "Make it go backward instead."
• 11. So Isaiah asked the LORD to do this, and he caused the shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!
• 12. Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick.
• 13. Hezekiah welcomed the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses--the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them all his other treasures--everything! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
• 14. Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did those men want? Where were they from?" Hezekiah replied, "They came from the distant land of Babylon."
• 15. "What did they see in your palace?" Isaiah asked. "They saw everything," Hezekiah replied. "I showed them everything I own--all my treasures."
• 16. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to this message from the LORD:
• 17. The time is coming when everything you have--all the treasures stored up by your ancestors--will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
• 18. Some of your own descendants will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon's king."
• 19. Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "This message you have given me from the LORD is good." But the king was thinking, "At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime."
• 20. The rest of the events in Hezekiah's reign, including the extent of his power and how he built a pool and dug a tunnel to bring water into the city, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.
• 21. When Hezekiah died, his son Manasseh became the next king.

Hebrews 2

• 1. So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.
• 2. The message God delivered through angels has always proved true, and the people were punished for every violation of the law and every act of disobedience.
• 3. What makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation that was announced by the Lord Jesus himself? It was passed on to us by those who heard him speak,
• 4. and God verified the message by signs and wonders and various miracles and by giving gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose to do so.
• 5. And furthermore, the future world we are talking about will not be controlled by angels.
• 6. For somewhere in the Scriptures it says, "What is man that you should think of him, and the son of man that you should care for him?
• 7. For a little while you made him lower than the angels, and you crowned him with glory and honor.
• 8. You gave him authority over all things." Now when it says "all things," it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all of this happen.
• 9. What we do see is Jesus, who "for a little while was made lower than the angels" and now is "crowned with glory and honor" because he suffered death for us. Yes, by God's grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone in all the world.
• 10. And it was only right that God--who made everything and for whom everything was made--should bring his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God made him a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation.
• 11. So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.
• 12. For he said to God, "I will declare the wonder of your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among all your people."
• 13. He also said, "I will put my trust in him." And in the same context he said, "Here I am--together with the children God has given me."
• 14. Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death.
• 15. Only in this way could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
• 16. We all know that Jesus came to help the descendants of Abraham, not to help the angels.
• 17. Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
• 18. Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.

Hosea 13

• 1. In the past when the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear because the other Israelite tribes looked up to them. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction.
• 2. Now they keep on sinning by making silver idols to worship--images shaped skillfully with human hands. "Sacrifice to these," they cry, "and kiss the calf idols!"
• 3. Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like dew in the morning sun, like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from a chimney.
• 4. "I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from your slavery in Egypt. You have no God but me, for there is no other savior.
• 5. I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.
• 6. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot me.
• 7. So now I will attack you like a lion, or like a leopard that lurks along the road.
• 8. I will rip you to pieces like a bear whose cubs have been taken away. I will tear you apart and devour you like a hungry lion.
• 9. "You are about to be destroyed, O Israel, though I am your helper.
• 10. Where now is your king? Why don't you call on him for help? Where are all the leaders of the land? You asked for them, now let them save you!
• 11. In my anger I gave you kings, and in my fury I took them away.
• 12. "The sins of Ephraim have been collected and stored away for punishment.
• 13. The people have been offered new birth, but they are like a child who resists being born. How stubborn they are! How foolish!
• 14. Should I ransom them from the grave? Should I redeem them from death? O death, bring forth your terrors! O grave, bring forth your plagues! For I will not relent!
• 15. Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind--a blast from the LORD--will arise in the desert. It will blow hard against the people of Ephraim, drying up their land. All their flowing springs and wells will disappear. Every precious thing they have will be plundered and carried away.
• 16. The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords."

New Living Translation: 311 of 365 days.