2 Koningen 19
1 Toen koning Ezekias dit hoorde, scheurde hij zijn klederen, sloeg het boetekleed om, en ging naar de tempel van Jahweh.
When King Hezekiah heard what they reported, he tore his clothes and put on clothes made of rough cloth [because he was very distressed]. Then he went to the temple [to ask God what to do].
2 Tegelijkertijd zond hij Eljakim, den hofmaarschalk, met den schrijver Sjebna en de oudsten der priesters, in boeteklederen gehuld, naar den profeet Isaias, den zoon van Amos.
He summoned Eliakim and Shebna and the (older/most important) priests, who were also wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, and told them to talk to me.
3 Ze moesten hem zeggen: Dit zegt Ezekias! Deze dag is een dag van benauwing, van straf en van smaad; de kinderen openen de moederschoot al, maar de kracht om te baren ontbreekt.
He said to them, “Tell this to Isaiah: ‘King Hezekiah says that we are having great distress/trouble now. [Other nations are causing] us to be insulted and disgraced. We are like [MET] a woman who is about to give birth to a child, but she does not have the strength that she needs to do it.
4 Maar wellicht heeft Jahweh, uw God, acht geslagen op de woorden van den opperbevelhebber, die door zijn heer, den koning van Assjoer, gezonden werd, om den levenden God te honen, en straft Jahweh, uw God, hem om de woorden die Hij gehoord heeft. Zend dus een bede omhoog voor het overschot, dat er nog is!
Perhaps Yahweh your God has heard everything that the official from Assyria said. Perhaps he knows that his boss/master, the king of Assyria, sent him to insult the all-powerful God, and that Yahweh will rebuke/punish him for what he said.’ And he requests that you pray for the few of us who are still alive [here in Jerusalem].”
5 Toen dan de dienaren van koning Ezekias bij Isaias waren gekomen,
When the messengers from Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6 sprak Isaias tot hen: Dit moet ge tot uw meester zeggen: Zo spreekt Jahweh! Wees niet bang voor de woorden, die gij gehoord hebt, en waarmee de knechten van den assyrischen koning Mij hebben gehoond.
Isaiah said to them, “[Go back to] your boss/master [and] tell him, ‘This is what Yahweh says: Those messengers from the king of Assyria have said evil things about me. But you should not be disturbed because of what they said.
7 Zie, Ik zal een geest in hem zenden, waardoor hij terugkeert naar zijn land, zodra hij geruchten verneemt; en in zijn land zal Ik hem door het zwaard doen vallen!
Listen to this: I will cause Sennacherib to hear a rumor that will worry him, [that a foreign army is about to attack his country]. So he will return to his own country, and there I will cause him to be assassinated by [men using] swords.’”
8 De opperbevelhebber keerde nu naar den koning van Assjoer terug. En daar hij vernomen had, dat deze Lakisj al had verlaten, trof hij hem bij Libna aan, dat juist door hem belegerd werd.
The official from Assyria found out that the King of Assyria [and his army] had left Lachish [city], and that they were attacking Libnah, [which is a nearby city]. So the official went there [to report to him what had happened in Jerusalem].
9 En toen deze hoorde: "Tirháka, de koning van Koesj, is tegen u ten strijde getrokken," zond hij opnieuw gezanten naar Ezekias met de volgende opdracht:
Soon after that, King Sennacherib received a report that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading his army, and was coming to attack them. So before King Sennacherib left Libnah [to fight against the army from Ethiopia], he sent other messengers to King Hezekiah with a letter.
10 Zegt dit aan Ezekias, den koning van Juda: Laat uw God, op wien gij vertrouwt, u niet bedriegen en zeggen: Jerusalem zal niet worden overgeleverd aan den assyrischen koning.
[In the letter] he wrote this to Hezekiah: “Do not allow your god on whom you are relying to deceive you by promising that [the city of] Jerusalem will not be captured by my army [MTY].
11 Zie, ge hebt toch gehoord, dat de koningen van Assjoer alle landen ten ondergang hebben gedoemd; en zoudt gij dan ontsnappen?
You have certainly heard what the armies of the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries. Our armies have completely destroyed them. So, (do you think that you will escape?/do not think that your god will save you!) [RHQ]
12 Hebben de goden de volkeren gered, die door mijn vaderen werden vernield: Gozan, Charan, Résef, en de bewoners van Éden in Telassar?
Did the gods of the nations that were about to be destroyed by the armies of the previous kings of Assyria rescue them? Did those gods rescue the people in the Gozan region and in Haran and Rezeph [cities in northern Syria] and the people of Eden who had been (deported/forced to go) to Tel-Assar [city]? None of the gods of those cities were able to rescue them.
13 Waar is de koning van Chamat gebleven, en de koning van Arpad, de koning van Sefarwáim, Hena en Iwwa?
What happened to the kings of Hamath and Arpad and Sepharvaim and Ivvah [cities] [RHQ]? [Most of them are dead, and the other people were deported]!”
14 Toen Ezekias van de gezanten de brief had ontvangen, en hem had gelezen, ging hij naar de tempel, legde hem open voor Jahweh neer,
Hezekiah took the letter that the messengers gave him, and he read it. Then he went up to the temple and spread out the letter in front of Yahweh.
15 en bad tot Jahweh: Jahweh, Israëls God, die op de cherubs troont; Gij alleen zijt God over alle koninkrijken der aarde; Gij hebt hemel en aarde geschapen!
Then Hezekiah prayed, “Yahweh, the God whom to whom we Israelis belong, you are seated on your throne above the [statues of] creatures with wings, [above the Sacred Chest]. Only you are truly God. You rule all the kingdoms on this earth. You are the one who created [everything on] the earth and [in] the sky.
16 Ach Jahweh, neig toch uw oor, en luister; open uw ogen, o Jahweh, en zie: Verneem, wat Sinacherib mij gemeld heeft, om den levenden God te honen.
So, Yahweh, please listen to what I am saying, and look [at what is happening]. And listen to what King Sennacherib has said to insult you, the all-powerful God.
17 Ach Jahweh, het is waar: de koningen van Assjoer hebben de volkeren met hun landen verwoest.
“Yahweh, it is true that [the armies of] the kings of Assyria have completely destroyed many nations, and ruined their land.
18 Ze hebben ook hun goden in het vuur geworpen en vernield; want ze waren geen god, maar enkel het werk van mensenhanden, van hout en van steen.
And they have thrown the idols of those nations into fires and burned them. But [that was not difficult to do, because] they were not gods. They were only statues made of wood and stone, idols that were shaped by humans, [and that is why they were destroyed easily].
19 Ach Jahweh, onze God, red ons nu uit zijn handen, opdat alle koninkrijken der aarde erkennen, dat Gij alleen God zijt, o Jahweh!
So now, Yahweh our God, please rescue us from the power [MTY] [of the king of Assyria], in order that the people in all the kingdoms of the world will know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is truly God.”
20 Toen liet Isaias, de zoon van Amos, aan Ezekias zeggen: Dit zegt Jahweh, Israëls God! Ik heb de bede gehoord, die gij tot Mij hebt opgezonden om Sinacherib, den assyrischen koning.
Then Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong, says: 'I have heard what you prayed to me about Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.
21 Dit is het woord, dat Jahweh tegen hem gesproken heeft: Ze veracht en bespot u, De jonkvrouw, de dochter van Sion; Meewarig schudt ze het hoofd achter u, Jerusalems dochter!
This is what I say to him: “The people of Jerusalem [MTY] despise you and make fun of you. They wag/shake their heads to mock you while you flee from here.
22 Wien hebt ge gehoond en beschimpt, Tegen wien een hoge toon aangeslagen. En uw trotse blikken geheven? Tegen Israëls Heilige!
Who do you think that you are despising and ridiculing? Who do you think you were shouting at? Who do you think you were looking at very proudly/arrogantly? It was I, the holy God whom the Israelis worship.
23 Door uw boden hebt ge den Heer gehoond, En gezegd: Met mijn tallooze wagens Heb ik de toppen der bergen bestegen, En de flanken van de Libanon. Ik heb zijn rijzige ceders geveld, En zijn schoonste cypressen; Zijn hoogste toppen bereikt, Zijn dichtste wouden.
The messengers that you sent made fun of me. You said, 'With my many chariots I have gone to the highest mountains, even to the highest mountains in Lebanon. We have cut down its tallest cedar trees and its nicest pine/cyprus trees. We have been to the most distant/remote peaks and to its dense forests.
24 Ik heb geboord en gedronken De wateren van vreemde landen, En opgedroogd met de zool van mijn voeten Alle stromen van Masor.
We have dug wells in other countries and drank water from them. And by marching through [MTY] the streams of Egypt, we dried them all up [HYP]!”’
25 Hebt ge dan niet vernomen, Hoe Ik dit vroeger al had beschikt? Wat Ik al lang had besloten, Heb Ik thans in vervulling doen gaan. Tot puinhopen moesten Versterkte steden worden verwoest;
[‘But I reply], “Have you never heard that long ago I determined [that those things would happen]? I planned it long ago, and now I have been causing it to happen. I planned that your army would have [the power to] capture many cities that were surrounded by high walls, and cause them to become piles of rubble.
26 Haar bewoners machteloos zijn, Verschrikt en beschaamd. Ze moesten zijn als kruid op het veld, Als tengere planten; Als gras op het dak, Dat verdort, eer het opschiet.
The people who lived in those cities have no power, and as a result they became dismayed and discouraged. They are as frail as plants and grass in the fields, as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses and is scorched by the hot east wind.
27 Maar Ik ken uw opstaan en zitten, Uw gaan en uw komen;
“But I know [everything about you]. I know when you are in your house and when you go outside; I also know that you are (raging/speaking very angrily) against me.
28 Uw razen steeg tot Mij op, Uw tieren kwam Mij ter ore. Daarom sla Ik mijn ring door uw neus, Leg mijn toom aan uw lippen; En voer u terug langs de weg, Die gij kwaamt.
So, because you have raged against me, and because I have heard [MTY] you speak very proudly/arrogantly, [it will be as though] I will put a hook in your nose and an iron (bit/piece of metal) in your mouth [in order that I can lead you where I want you to go], and I will force you to return [to your own country] on the same road on which you came here, [without conquering Jerusalem].” '
29 En dit is het teken voor u: Dit jaar zult ge nog nawas eten, Het volgend jaar wat er groeit in het wild; Maar in het derde jaar zult ge zaaien en oogsten, Wijngaarden planten en de vrucht er van eten.
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “This is what will happen to prove [that I am telling the truth]: This year and next year you [and your people] will be able to harvest only (wild grain/grain that grows without having been planted). But the following year, you [Israelis] will be able to plant grain and harvest it, and to plant vineyards and eat the grapes that you harvest.
30 Wat er van u overblijft, En wat er van het huis van Juda nog rest. Zal wortel schieten naar omlaag, En vruchten dragen naar boven.
The people [MTY] in Judah who remain alive will prosper and have many children; they will be like plants whose roots go deep down into the ground and which produce much [MET].
31 Want de Rest zal zich uit Jerusalem verspreiden, Wat er overbleef uit de Sion; De ijver van Jahweh der heerscharen Brengt het tot stand!
There will be many people in Jerusalem [DOU] who will survive, because Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels in heaven, wants [PRS] it to happen.
32 Daarom spreekt Jahweh over den koning van Assjoer: Hij zal deze stad niet binnen komen, Geen pijl er op afschieten; Met geen schild ze bestormen, Met geen wal ze omringen.
So this is what Yahweh, says about the king of Assyria: ‘His armies will not enter this city; they will not even shoot any arrows into it! His soldiers will not march outside the city gates carrying shields, and they will not even build high mounds of dirt against [the city walls] [to enable them to attack the city].
33 Hij keert terug langs de weg, die hij kwam; Deze stad komt hij niet binnen, zegt Jahweh!
Their king will return to his own country on the same road on which he came here. He will not enter this city! [That will happen because] I, Yahweh have said it!
34 Ik zal deze stad beschutten en redden Terwille van Mij, en van David, mijn dienaar!
I will defend this city and prevent it from being destroyed. I will do this for the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised to King David, who served me well.'”
35 Nog dezelfde nacht ging de engel van Jahweh uit en doodde in het assyrische leger honderd vijf en tachtig duizend man; ‘s morgens bij het ontwaken zag men enkel nog lijken.
That night, an angel from Yahweh went out to where the army of Assyria had put up their tents, and killed 185,000 of their soldiers! When the rest of their soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw that there were corpses everywhere!
36 Nu brak Sinacherib, de koning van Assjoer, op, nam de terugtocht en bleef in Ninive.
Then King Sennacherib left and went home to Nineveh, [the capital of Assyria].
37 En toen hij eens aan het bidden was in de tempel van Nisrok, zijn god, werd hij met het zwaard doorstoken door zijn zonen Adrammélek en Saréser, die naar het land Ararat vluchtten. Zijn zoon Ésar-Chaddon volgde hem op.
One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. Then they escaped and went to [the] Ararat [region, northwest of Nineveh]. And another of Sennacherib's sons, Esarhaddon, became the king of Assyria.
