2 Kings 19
1 When Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the Lord's Temple.
And on hearing it, King Hezekiah took off his robe, and put on haircloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
2 He sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna, the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to see the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
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.
3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, punishment. It's like when babies arrive at the entrance to the birth canal but there's no strength to deliver them.
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.
4 Maybe the Lord your God, hearing the message the army commander delivered on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria—a message sent to insult the living God—will punish him for his words. Please say a prayer for the remnant of us who still survive.”
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.
5 After Hezekiah's officials delivered his message to Isaiah,
So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah replied to them, “Tell your master, This is what the Lord says: Don't be frightened by the words that you have heard, the words used by the servants of the king of Assyria to blaspheme me.
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.
7 Look, I'm going to scare him—he'll hear a rumor, and he'll have to return to his own country. When he's there I'll have him killed by the sword.”
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.
8 The Assyrian army commander left and went back to join the king of Assyria, having heard the king had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
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.
9 Sennacherib had received a message about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, that said, “Watch out! He has set out to attack you.” So Sennacherib sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
And when news came to him that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had made an attack on him, he sent representatives to Hezekiah again, saying,
10 “Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Don't let your God, the one you're trusting in, fool you by saying that Jerusalem won't fall into the hands of the king of Assyria.
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.
11 Look! You've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries they've invaded— they destroyed them completely! Do you really think you'll be saved?
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?
12 Did the gods of the nations my forefathers destroyed save them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar?
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?
13 Where today is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena and of Ivvah?
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the Lord's Temple and opened it out before the Lord.
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.
15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, “Lord, God of Israel, you who live above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth, you are Creator of heaven and earth.
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.
16 Please listen with your ears, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the message that Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
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.
17 Yes, it's true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed these nations and their lands.
Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands,
18 They have thrown their gods into the fire because they are not really gods—they are just the work of human hands, made of wood and stone so they could destroy them.
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.
19 Now, Lord our God, please save us from him, in order that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that only you, Lord, are God.”
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.
20 Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about Sennacherib, king of Assyria.
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.
21 This is the word the Lord condemning him: The virgin daughter of Zion scorns you and mocks you; the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head as you run away.
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.
22 Who have you been insulting and ridiculing? Who did you raise your voice against? Who did you look at with so proud eyes? It was against the Holy One of Israel!
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.
23 By your servants you have mocked the Lord. You said: ‘With my many chariots I have ascended to the high mountains, to the farthest peaks of Lebanon. I have chopped down its tallest cedars, the best of its cypress trees. I have reached its most distant outposts, its deepest forests.
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.
24 I have dug wells and drunk water in foreign lands. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers in Egypt.’”
I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
25 The Lord replies, “Haven't you heard? I decided it long ago; I planned it in the olden days. Now I am making sure it happens—that you are to knock down fortified towns into piles of rubble.
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.
26 Their people, powerless, are terrified and humiliated. They're like plants in a field, like soft green shoots, like grass that sprouts on rooftop—scorched before it can even grow.
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.
27 But I know you very well—where you live, when you come in, when you leave, and your furious anger against me.
But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in.
28 Because of your furious anger against me, and because I know how you disrespect me, I'm going to put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will force you to return the same way you came.”
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.
29 “Hezekiah, this will be a sign to prove this is true: This year you'll eat what grows by itself. The second year you'll eat what grows from that. But in the third year you'll sow and reap, you'll plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
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.
30 The remnant that's left of Judah will revive again, sending roots below and bearing fruit above.
And those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth and give fruit.
31 For a remnant will come out of Jerusalem, and survivors will come from Mount Zion. The intense determination of the Lord will make sure this happens.
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.
32 This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city or shoot an arrow at it. He shall not advance towards it with a shield, or build a siege ramp against it.
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;
33 He shall return the same way he came, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord.
By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town, says the Lord.
34 I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.
35 That night the angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000. When the survivors woke up in the morning, they were surrounded by dead bodies.
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.
36 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, gave up and left. He returned home to Nineveh and stayed there.
So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went back to his place at Nineveh.
37 While he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword and then ran away to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him as king.
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.
