< Kings IV 19 >
1 And it came to pass when king Ezekias heard it, that he tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth, an went into the house of the Lord.
2 And he sent Heliakim the steward, and Somnas the scribe, and the elders of the priests, clothed with sackcloth, to Esaias the prophet the son of Amos.
3 And they said to him, Thus says Ezekias, This day [is] a day of tribulation, and rebuke, and provocation: for the children are come to the travail-[pangs], but the mother has no strength.
4 Peradventure the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rapsakes, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God and to revile him with the words which the Lord your God has heard: and you shall offer [your] prayer for the remnant that is found.
5 So the servants of king Ezekias came to Esaias.
6 And Esaias said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, wherewith the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed.
7 Behold, I send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a report, and shall return to his own land; and I will overthrow him with the sword in his own land.
8 So Rapsakes returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Lobna: for he heard that he [had] departed from Lachis.
9 And he heard concerning Tharaca king of the Ethiopians, saying, Behold, he is come forth to fight with you: and he returned, and sent messengers to Ezekias, saying,
10 Let not your God on whom you trust encourage you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.
11 Behold, you have heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done in all the lands, to waste them utterly: and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations at all delivered them, whom my fathers destroyed; both Gozan, and Charran, and Raphis, and the sons of Edem who were in Thaesthen?
13 Where is the king of Haemath, and the king of Arphad? and where is the king of the city of Seppharvaim, of Ana, and Aba?
14 And Ezekias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and he went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezekias spread it before the Lord,
15 and said, O Lord God of Israel that dwell over the cherubs, you are the only god in all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear: open, Lord, your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherim, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
17 For truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have wasted the nations,
18 and have cast their gods into the fire: because they are no gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.
19 And now, O Lord our God, deliver us out of his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that you alone [are] the Lord God.
20 And Esaias the son of Amos sent to Ezekias, saying, Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, I have heard your prayer to me concerning Sennacherim king of the Assyrians.
21 This [is] the word which the Lord has spoken against him; The virgin daughter of Sion has made light of you, and mocked you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
22 Whom have you reproached, and whom have you reviled? and against whom have you lifted up your voice, and raised your eyes on high? [Is it] against the Holy One of Israel?
23 By your messengers you has reproached the Lord, and have said, I will go up with the multitude of my chariots, to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Libanus, and I have cut down the height of his cedar, [and] his choice cypresses; and I have come into the midst of the forest and of Carmel.
24 I have refreshed [myself], and have drunk strange waters, and I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the rivers of fortified places.
25 I have brought about [the matter], I have brought it to a conclusion; and it is come to the destruction of the bands of warlike prisoners, [even of] strong cities.
26 And they that lived in them were weak in hand, they quaked and were confounded, they became [as] grass of the field, or [as] the green herb, the grass [growing on] houses, and that which is trodden down by him that stands [upon it].
27 But I know your down-sitting, and your going forth, and your rage against me.
28 Because you was angry against me, and your fierceness is come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hooks in your nostrils, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
29 And this shall be a sign to you; eat this year the things that grow of themselves, and in the second year the things which spring up: and in the third year [let there be] sowing, and reaping, and planting of vineyards, and eat you the fruit of them.
30 And he shall increase him that has escaped of the house of Juda: and the remnant [shall strike] root beneath, and it shall produce fruit above.
31 For from Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and he that escapes from the mountain of Sion: the zeal of the Lord of host shall do this.
32 [Is it] not so? Thus says the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians, He shall not enter into this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow there, neither shall a shield come against it, neither shall he heap a mound against it.
33 By the way by which he comes, by it shall he return, and he shall not enter into this city, says the Lord.
34 And I will defend this city as with a shield, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it came to pass at night that the angel of the Lord went forth, an struck in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand: and they rose early in the morning, and, behold, [these were] all dead corpses.
36 And Sennacherim king of the Assyrians departed, and went and returned, and lived in Nineve.
37 And it came to pass, while he was worshipping in the house of Meserach his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararath; and Asordan his son reigned in his stead.
