2 Kings 19
1 It came about that when King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh.
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,
2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, all covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet.
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,
3 They said to him, “Hezekiah says, 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for the children have come to the time of birth, but there is no strength for them to be born.
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.
4 It may be that Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the chief commander, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Now lift up your prayer for the remnant that is still here.'”
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.”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
And the servants of King Hezekiah come to Isaiah,
6 and Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master: 'Yahweh says, “Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me.
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.
7 Look, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear a certain report and go back to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”'”
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.”
8 Then the chief commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had gone away from Lachish.
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.
9 Then Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Cush and Egypt had mobilized to fight against him, so he sent messengers again to Hezekiah with a message:
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,
10 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given over into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
“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.
11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them completely. So will you be rescued?
Behold, you have heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands—to devote them; and are you delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations rescued them, the nations that my fathers destroyed: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Tel Assar?
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?
13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the cities of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?'”
Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 Hezekiah received this letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the house of Yahweh and spread it before him.
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.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh and said, “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, you who sit above the cherubim, you are God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
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.
16 Turn your ear, Yahweh, and listen. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
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.
17 Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands.
Truly, O YHWH, kings of Asshur have laid waste the nations and their land,
18 They have put their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, just wood and stone. So the Assyrians have destroyed them.
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.
19 Now then, Yahweh our God, save us, I implore you, from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Yahweh, are God alone.”
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.”
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel says, 'Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.
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;
21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken about him: “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you.
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!
22 Whom have you defied and insulted? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
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!
23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, 'With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the highest elevations of Lebanon. I will cut down the tall cedars and the choice cypress trees there. I will enter into its farthest parts, its most fruitful forest.
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.
24 I have dug wells and have drunk foreign waters. I dried up all the rivers of Egypt under the soles of my feet.'
I have dug, and drunk strange waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.
25 Have you not heard how I determined it long ago, and worked it out in ancient times? Now I am bringing it to pass. You are here to reduce impregnable cities into heaps of ruins.
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,
26 Their inhabitants, of little strength, are shattered and ashamed. They are plants in the field, green grass, the grass on the roof or in the field, burned before it has grown up.
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!
27 But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.
And your sitting down, and your going out, And your coming in, I have known, And your anger toward Me;
28 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose, and my bit in your mouth; I will turn you back the way you came.”
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.
29 This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows wild, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year you must plant and harvest, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
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.
30 The remnant of the house of Judah that survives will again take root and bear fruit.
And it has continued—The escaped of the house of Judah That has been left—to take root beneath, And has made fruit upward.
31 For from Jerusalem a remnant will come out, from Mount Zion survivors will come. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.
For a remnant goes out from Jerusalem, And an escape from Mount Zion; The zeal of YHWH [of Hosts] does this.
32 Therefore Yahweh says this about the king of Assyria: “He will not come into this city nor shoot an arrow here. Neither will he come before it with shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
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.
33 The way by which he came will be the same way he will leave; he will not enter this city— this is Yahweh's declaration.”
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—
34 For I will defend this city and rescue it, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.'”
And I have covered over this city, To save it for My own sake, And for the sake of My servant David.”
35 It came about that night that the angel of Yahweh went out and attacked the camp of the Assyrians, putting to death 185,000 soldiers. When the men arose early in the morning, dead bodies lay everywhere.
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.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria left Israel and went home and stayed in Nineveh.
And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeys, and goes, and turns back, and dwells in Nineveh;
37 Later, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisrok his god, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword. Then they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
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.
