2 Kings 19
1 When Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the Lord's Temple.
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, 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 Elyakim, who was superintendent over the house, and Shebnah the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, 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 unto him, Thus hath said Hezekiah, A day of trouble, and of rebuke, and derision is this day; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
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.”
Perhaps the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God; and who hath reproached with the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up a prayer in behalf of the remnant that is still found here.
5 After Hezekiah's officials delivered his message to Isaiah,
And 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 unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus hath said the Lord, Be not afraid because of the words which thou hast heard, with which the boys of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
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.”
Behold, I will put an [other] spirit in him, that when he will hear a rumor, he shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
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.
And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed 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 he heard it said of Thirhakah the king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight with thee; and he again sent messengers unto Hezekiah, 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.
Thus shall ye say to Hezekiah the king of Judah, as followeth, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given up into the hand 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?
Behold, thou thyself hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, by destroying them utterly: and thou alone shouldst be delivered?
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?
Have the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed delivered them; as Gozan, and Charan, and Rezeph, and the children of 'Eden, who were in Thelassar?
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 Chamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvayim, of Hena', and '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 letters out of the hand of the messengers, and read them: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread them out 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 prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the [true] God, thou alone, for all the kingdoms of the earth; for it is thou who hast made the heavens and the 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.
Bend down, O Lord, thy ear, and hear! open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see! and hear the words of Sennacherib, that which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.
17 Yes, it's true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed these nations and their lands.
Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their land,
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 they have placed their gods into the fire; for they are no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone: and these have they destroyed.
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.”
And now, O Lord our God, save us, I beseech thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, thou alone.
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 sent Isaiah the son of Amoz to Hezekiah, saying, Thus hath said the Lord the God of Israel, What thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib the king of Assyria have I heard.
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 that the Lord hath spoken over him: She despiseth thee, she laugheth thee to scorn, the virgin daughter of Zion; behind thee shaketh her head the daughter of Jerusalem.
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!
Whom hast thou blasphemed, and [whom] hast thou scorned? and against whom hast thou raised thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? 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.
By thy messengers thou hast blasphemed the Lord and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I indeed come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its fir-trees: and I will enter into the lodgings on its summit, the forest of its fruitful soil.
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 dug and drunk strange waters, and I will dry up with the sole of my feet all the streams of besieged places.
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.
Hadst thou not heard that in distant ages I had prepared this? in the times of antiquity when I formed it? now have I brought it along, and it came to pass, to desolate into ruinous heaps fortified cities.
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.
And thus their inhabitants were short of power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the herbs of the field, and as the green grass; as the moss on the housetops, and as corn blasted before the ear appeareth.
27 But I know you very well—where you live, when you come in, when you leave, and your furious anger against me.
But thy abiding and thy going out and thy coming in do I know, and thy raging against me.
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 of thy raging against me and thy tumult that is come up into my ears, will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle between thy lips; and I will cause thee to turn back on the way by which thou camest.
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 shall be unto thee the sign, Ye shall eat this year what groweth of itself, and in the second year what springeth up after the same; and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
30 The remnant that's left of Judah will revive again, sending roots below and bearing fruit above.
And the remnant of the house of Judah that is escaped shall yet again strike root downward, and bear fruit upward.
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 out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and that which escapeth out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
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.
Therefore thus hath said the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow thereon, nor come before it with shield, nor cast up against it an embankment.
33 He shall return the same way he came, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord.
On the way by which he came, by the same shall he return, and into this city shall he not come, saith the Lord.
34 I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
And I will shield this city, to save it, for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.
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 it came to pass, on the same night, that an angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred eighty and five thousand men: and when people arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, gave up and left. He returned home to Nineveh and stayed there.
And Sennacherib the king of Assyria then departed, and went and returned, and dwelt 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 to pass, as he was prostrating himself in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Essar-chaddon his son became king in his stead.
