2 Kings 19
1 And on hearing it, King Hezekiah took off his robe, and put on haircloth, and went into 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, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the chief priests, dressed in haircloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the 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 And they said to him, Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble and punishment and shame; for the children are ready to come to birth, but there is no strength to give birth to 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 It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so then make your prayer for the rest of the people.
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 came to Isaiah.
So the servants of King Hezekiah came unto Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, This is what you are to say to your master: The Lord says, Be not troubled by the words which the servants of the king of Assyria have said against me in your hearing.
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 See, I will put a spirit into him, and bad news will come to his ears, and he will go back to his land; and there I will have him put to death 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 So the Rab-shakeh went back, and when he got there the king of Assyria was making war against Libnah, for it had come to his ears that he had gone away from Lachish.
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 And when news came to him that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had made an attack on him, he sent representatives to Hezekiah again, 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 This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands 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 No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse; and will you be kept safe?
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 keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden who were 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 is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena and of 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 And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there 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 made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and 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 Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against 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 made waste the nations and their lands,
Of a truth, O Yahweh, —the kings of Assyria have devoted to destruction the nations and their lands;
18 And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.
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 But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, 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, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer which you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.
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 which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of 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 Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even 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 You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
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 made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
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 Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls.
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 This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.
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 have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in.
Howbeit, thine abode, and thy coming out and thy going in, I know, —and thy raging against me.
28 Because your wrath against me and your words of pride have come up to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by 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 the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself; and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed and get in the grain and make vine-gardens and take of 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 those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth and give fruit.
Then shall the escaped of the house of Judah that remain, again—take root downward, and bear fruit upward;
31 For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
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 For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork 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 By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town, says the Lord.
By the way that he cometh in, by the same, shall he return, —and, into this city, shall he not enter, declareth Yahweh!
34 For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour 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 night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men; and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but 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, went back to his place at Nineveh.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria brake up, and went his way, and returned, —and remained in Nineveh.
37 And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword; and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son became king 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.
