2 Kings 19
1 And it comes to pass, at King Hezekiah’s hearing, that he tears his garments, and covers himself with sackcloth, and enters the house of YHWH,
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 and sends Eliakim, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elderly of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz,
And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 and they say to him, “Thus said Hezekiah: This day [is] a day of distress, and rebuke, and despising; for sons have come to the birth, and there is not power to bring forth.
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be your God YHWH hears all the words of the chief of the butlers with which the king of Asshur his lord has sent him to reproach the living God, and has decided concerning the words that your God YHWH has heard, and you have lifted up prayer for the remnant that is found.”
It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
5 And the servants of King Hezekiah come to Isaiah,
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 and Isaiah says to them, “Thus you say to your lord, Thus said YHWH: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me.
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I am giving a spirit in him, and he has heard a report, and has turned back to his land, and I have caused him to fall by the sword in his land.”
Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 And the chief of the butlers turns back and finds the king of Asshur fighting against Libnah, for he has heard that he has journeyed from Lachish.
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And he hears concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, “Behold, he has come out to fight with you”; and he turns and sends messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you are trusting lift you up, saying, Jerusalem is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, you have heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands—to devote them; and are you delivered?
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Did the gods of the nations deliver them whom my fathers destroyed—Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who [are] in Thelassar?
Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Edom which were in Telassar?
13 Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?
14 And Hezekiah takes the letters out of the hand of the messengers and reads them, and goes up to the house of YHWH, and Hezekiah spreads it before YHWH.
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
15 And Hezekiah prays before YHWH and says, “O YHWH, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubim, You [are] God Himself—You alone—to all the kingdoms of the earth: You have made the heavens and the earth.
And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16 Incline, O YHWH, Your ear, and hear; open, O YHWH, Your eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib with which he has sent him to reproach the living God.
Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to reproach the living God.
17 Truly, O YHWH, kings of Asshur have laid waste the nations and their land,
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
18 and have put their gods into fire, for they [are] no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone, and destroy them.
and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
19 And now, O our God YHWH, please save us out of his hand, and all kingdoms of the earth know that You [are] YHWH God—You alone.”
Now therefore, O LORD our God, save thou us, I beseech thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
20 And Isaiah son of Amoz sends to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: That which you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur I have heard;
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard [thee].
21 this [is] the word that YHWH spoke concerning him: Trampled on you—laughed at you Has the virgin daughter of Zion; Shaken the head behind you Has the daughter of Jerusalem!
This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
22 Whom have you reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Indeed, you lift up your eyes on high—Against the Holy One of Israel!
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? [even] against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By the hand of your messengers You have reproached the Lord, and say, In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of mountains—The sides of Lebanon, And I cut down the height of its cedars, The choice of its firs, And I enter the lodging of its extremity, The forest of its Carmel.
By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.
24 I have dug, and drunk strange waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.
I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
25 Have you not heard from afar [that] I made it, From days of old that I formed it? Now I have brought it in, And it becomes a desolation, Ruinous heaps [are] fortified cities,
Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
26 And their inhabitants [are] feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up, They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted grain—before it has risen up!
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27 And your sitting down, and your going out, And your coming in, I have known, And your anger toward Me;
But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me.
28 Because of your anger toward Me, And your noise—it came up into My ears, I have put My hook in your nose, And My bridle in your lips, And have caused you to turn back In the way in which you came.
Because of thy raging against me, and for that thine arrogancy is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
29 And this [is] the sign to you, Food of the year [is] the spontaneous growth, And in the second year the self-produced, And in the third year you sow, and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.
And this shall be the sign unto thee: ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
30 And it has continued—The escaped of the house of Judah That has been left—to take root beneath, And has made fruit upward.
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For a remnant goes out from Jerusalem, And an escape from Mount Zion; The zeal of YHWH [of Hosts] does this.
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape: the zeal of the LORD shall perform this.
32 Therefore, thus said YHWH, Concerning the king of Asshur: He does not come into this city, Nor does he shoot an arrow there, Nor does he come before it with shield, Nor does he pour out a mound against it.
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it.
33 In the way that he comes in—In it he turns back, And to this city he does not come in, A declaration of YHWH—
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith the LORD.
34 And I have covered over this city, To save it for My own sake, And for the sake of My servant David.”
For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
35 And it comes to pass, in that night, that a messenger of YHWH goes out, and strikes one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Asshur, and they rise early in the morning, and behold, all of them [are] dead corpses.
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36 And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeys, and goes, and turns back, and dwells in Nineveh;
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37 and it comes to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of his god Nisroch, and [his sons] Adramelech and Sharezar have struck him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esar-Haddon reigns in his stead.
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.
