Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?” Hezekiah said, “These men came all the way from Babylon just to see me.”
“The Lord will bring a nation from far away to fight you. You will not understand their language. They will come quickly, like an eagle coming down from the sky.
Family of Israel, this message is from the Lord. “I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you. It is an old nation; it is an ancient nation. The people of that nation speak a language that you do not know. You cannot understand what they say.
At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Asa, you depended on the king of Aram to help you and not the Lord your God. That’s why the king’s army has escaped from you.
“Go to Hezekiah and tell him that the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says, ‘I heard your prayer, and I saw your tears. I will add 15 years to your life.
At that time Hezekiah became sick and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him and told him, “The Lord told me to tell you this: ‘You will die soon. So you should tell your family what they should do when you die. You will not get well.’”
The Lord was very angry with Amaziah, so he sent a prophet to him. The prophet said, “Amaziah, why have you worshiped the gods those people worship? Those gods could not even save their own people from you!”
The men answered, “We are your servants. We have come from a faraway country. We came because we heard of the great power of the Lord your God. We heard about what he has done and about everything he did in Egypt.
Then they went to the camp of the Israelites. This camp was near Gilgal. The men went to Joshua and said to him, “We have traveled from a faraway country. We want to make a peace agreement with you.”
The prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, went out to meet the king. Jehu said to him, “Why did you help those who are wicked? Why do you love those who hate the Lord? That’s the reason the Lord is angry with you now.
“Report it to this nation. Spread the news to the people in Jerusalem. Enemies are coming from a faraway country. They are shouting words of war against the cities of Judah.
Listen to my people. Everywhere in this country, people are crying for help. They say, “Is the Lord still at Zion? Is Zion’s King still there?” But God says, “The people of Judah worshiped their worthless foreign idols. That made me very angry! Why did they do that?”