2 Kings 19
1 On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard, that he rent his clothes, —and covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh;
2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz
and sent Eliakim who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, —unto Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz;
3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
and they said unto him—Thus, saith Hezekiah, A day of trouble, and rebuke, and reviling, is this day, —for children are come to the birth, and, strength, is there none to bring forth!
4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
It may be that Yahweh thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord hath sent, to reproach a Living God, and will rebuke the words, which Yahweh thy God hath heard, —Wherefore lift thou up a prayer, for the remnant that remaineth.
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
So the servants of King Hezekiah came unto Isaiah.
6 who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus, shall ye, say, unto your lord, —Thus, saith Yahweh—Be not thou afraid, because of the words which thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled, me:
7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
Behold me! about to let go against him, a blast, and, when he heareth the report, then will he return to his own country, —and I will cause him to fall by the sword, in his own land.
8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, —for he had heard that he had broken up from Lachish.
9 Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
And when he heard say of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, saying, Lo! he hath come forth to fight with thee, —then he again sent messengers unto Hezekiah, saying—
10 “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Thus, shall ye, speak, unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying—Let not thy God in whom thou art trusting beguile thee, saying, —Jerusalem shall not be given over, into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
Lo! thou thyself, hast heard, what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, in devoting them to destruction, —and shalt, thou, be delivered?
12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?
Did the gods of the nations, deliver them, whom my fathers destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, —and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who were in Telassar?
13 Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
Where are the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, —of Hena, and Ivvah?
14 So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
And, when Hezekiah had received the letter at the hand of the messengers, and had read it, then went he up to the house of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before Yahweh.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, O Yahweh, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubim, thou thyself, art GOD, alone, for all the kingdoms of the earth, —thou, didst make the heavens and the earth.
16 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
Bow down, O Yahweh, thine ear, and hear, Open, O Yahweh, thine eyes, and see, —yea hear thou the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent—To reproach a Living God!
17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste these nations and their lands.
Of a truth, O Yahweh, —the kings of Assyria have devoted to destruction the nations and their lands;
18 They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
and have put their gods in the fire, —for, no-gods, were, they, but the work of the hands of men—wood and stone, and so they destroyed them.
19 And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
Now, therefore, O Yahweh our God, save us we pray thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that, thou, Yahweh, art God, alone!
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, —Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, What thou hast prayed unto me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.
21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
This, is the word that Yahweh hath spoken concerning him, —The virgin daughter of Zion, laugheth thee to scorn, mocketh thee, The daughter of Jerusalem, after thee, doth wag her head.
22 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
Whom, hast thou reproached, and insulted? and, against whom, hast thou lifted high thy voice? yea thou hast proudly raised thine eyes, against the Holy One of Israel.
23 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
Through thy messengers, thou hast reproached My Lord, and hast said—With my multitude of chariots, have I ascended the height of the mountains, the recesses of Lebanon, —and have cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest firs, and have entered the shelter of its summit, its thick garden forests.
24 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
I, have digged, and have drunk foreign waters, —and have dried up, with the soles of my feet, all the streams of besieged places.
25 Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
Hast thou not heard—that, long ago, that, is what I appointed, and, from days of old, devised it? Now, have I brought it to pass, that thou mightest serve to lay waste, in desolate ruins, fortified cities;
26 Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
And, their inhabitants, being powerless, were overthrown and put to shame, —they became grass of the field, and young herbage, grass on housetops, and seed withered before it came up.
27 But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.
Howbeit, thine abode, and thy coming out and thy going in, I know, —and thy raging against me.
28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Because, thy raging against me, and thy contempt, have come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my ring in thy nose, and my bit in thy lips, and will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
29 And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
And, this unto thee, is the sign—Eating, this year, the growth of scattered seeds, and, in the second year, that which groweth after, —then, in the third year, sow ye and reap, plant ye vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof;
30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
Then shall the escaped of the house of Judah that remain, again—take root downward, and bear fruit upward;
31 For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
For, out of Jerusalem, shall go forth a remnant, and that which hath escaped—out of Mount Zion, —the jealousy of Yahweh of hosts, will perform this.
32 So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
Therefore—Thus, saith Yahweh, concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not enter this city, nor shoot there, an arrow, —nor attack it with shield, nor cast up against it, a mound;
33 He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city,’
By the way that he cometh in, by the same, shall he return, —and, into this city, shall he not enter, declareth Yahweh!
34 ‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
Thus will I throw a covering over this city, to save it, —for mine own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.
35 And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
And it came to pass, during that night, that the messenger of Yahweh went forth, and smote, in the camp of the Assyrians, a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And, when men arose early in the morning, lo! they were all, dead bodies!
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria brake up, and went his way, and returned, —and remained in Nineveh.
37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
And it came to pass, as he was bowing down in the house of Nisroch his god, that, Adrammelech and Sharezer [his sons], smote him with the sword, howbeit, they, escaped into the land of Ararat, —and Esarhaddon his son, reigned, in his stead.
