2 Kings 19:1–37

¹And it came about that as soon as King Hez‧e‧ki′ah heard, he immediately ripped his garments apart and covered himself with sackcloth and came into the house of Jehovah.²Further, he sent E‧li′a‧kim, who was over the household, and Sheb′nah the secretary and the older men of the priests covered with sackcloth to Isaiah the prophet the son of A′moz.³And they proceeded to say to him: “This is what Hez‧e‧ki′ah has said, ‘This day is a day of distress and of rebuke and of scornful insolence; for the sons have come as far as the womb’s mouth, and there is no power to give birth.⁴Perhaps Jehovah your God will hear all the words of Rab′sha‧keh, whom the king of As‧syr′i‧a his lord sent to taunt the living God, and he will actually call him to account for the words that Jehovah your God has heard. And you must lift up prayer in behalf of the remnant that are to be found.’”

⁵So the servants of King Hez‧e‧ki′ah came in to Isaiah.⁶Then Isaiah said to them: “This is what ​YOU​ should say to ​YOUR​ lord, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard with which the attendants of the king of As‧syr′i‧a spoke abusively of me.⁷Here I am putting a spirit in him, and he must hear a report and return to his own land; and I shall certainly cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

⁸After that Rab′sha‧keh returned and found the king of As‧syr′i‧a fighting against Lib′nah; for he had heard that he had pulled away from La′chish.⁹He heard it said respecting Tir‧ha′kah the king of E‧thi‧o′pi‧a: “Here he has come out to fight against you.” Therefore he sent messengers again to Hez‧e‧ki′ah, saying:¹⁰“This is what ​YOU​ men should say to Hez‧e‧ki′ah the king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you are trusting deceive you, saying: “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of As‧syr′i‧a.”¹¹Look! You yourself have heard what the kings of As‧syr′i‧a did to all the lands by devoting them to destruction; and will you yourself be delivered?¹²Have the gods of the nations that my forefathers brought to ruin delivered them, even Go′zan and Ha′ran and Re′zeph and the sons of E′den that were in Tel‐as′sar?¹³Where is he—the king of Ha′math and the king of Ar′pad and the king of the cities of Seph‧ar‧va′im, He′na and Iv′vah?’”

¹⁴Then Hez‧e‧ki′ah took the letters out of the hand of the messengers and read them, after which Hez‧e‧ki′ah went up to the house of Jehovah and spread it out before Jehovah.¹⁵And Hez‧e‧ki′ah began to pray before Jehovah and say: “O Jehovah the God of Israel, sitting upon the cherubs, you alone are the [true] God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You yourself have made the heavens and the earth.¹⁶Incline your ear, O Jehovah, and hear. Open your eyes, O Jehovah, and see, and hear the words of Sen‧nach′er‧ib that he has sent to taunt the living God.¹⁷It is a fact, O Jehovah, the kings of As‧syr′i‧a have devastated the nations and their land.¹⁸And they have consigned their gods to the fire, because they were no gods, but the workmanship of man’s hands, wood and stone; so that they destroyed them.¹⁹And now, O Jehovah our God, save us, please, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Jehovah, are God alone.”

²⁰And Isaiah the son of A′moz proceeded to send to Hez‧e‧ki′ah, saying: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘The prayer that you have made to me concerning Sen‧nach′er‧ib the king of As‧syr′i‧a I have heard.²¹This is the word that Jehovah has spoken against him:

“The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, she has held you in derision.
Behind you the daughter of Jerusalem has wagged her head.

²²Whom have you taunted and spoken of abusively?
And against whom have you lifted up your voice
And do you raise your eyes on high?
It is against the Holy One of Israel!

²³By means of your messengers you have taunted Jehovah and you say,
‘With the multitude of my war chariots I myself—
I shall certainly ascend the height of mountainous regions,
The remotest parts of Leb′a‧non;
And I shall cut down its lofty cedars, its choice juniper trees.
And I will enter its final lodging place, the forest of its orchard.

²⁴I myself shall certainly dig and drink strange waters,
And I shall dry up with the soles of my feet all the Nile canals of Egypt.’

²⁵Have you not heard? From remote times it is what I will do.
From bygone days I have even formed it.
Now I will bring it in.
And you will serve to make fortified cities desolate as piles of ruins.

²⁶And their inhabitants will be feeble‐handed;
They will simply be terrified and will be ashamed.
They must become as vegetation of the field and green tender grass,
Grass of the roofs, when there is a scorching before the east wind.

²⁷And your sitting quiet and your going out and your coming in I well know,
And your exciting yourself against me,
²⁸Because your exciting yourself against me and your roaring have come up into my ears.
And I shall certainly put my hook in your nose and my bridle between your lips,
And I shall indeed lead you back by the way by which you have come.”

²⁹“‘And this will be the sign for you: There will be an eating this year of the growth from spilled kernels, and in the second year grain that shoots up of itself; but in the third year sow seed, you people, and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.³⁰And those who escape of the house of Judah, those who are left, will certainly take root downward and produce fruitage upward.³¹For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The very zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this.

³²“‘That is why this is what Jehovah has said concerning the king of As‧syr′i‧a: “He will not come into this city nor will he shoot an arrow there nor confront it with a shield nor cast up a siege rampart against it.³³By the way by which he proceeded to come, he will return, and into this city he will not come, is the utterance of Jehovah.³⁴And I shall certainly defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant.”’”

³⁵And it came about on that night that the angel of Jehovah proceeded to go out and strike down a hundred and eighty‐five thousand in the camp of the As‧syr′i‧ans. When people rose up early in the morning, why, there all of them were dead carcasses.³⁶Therefore Sen‧nach′er‧ib the king of As‧syr′i‧a pulled away and went and returned, and he took up dwelling in Nin′e‧veh.³⁷And it came about that as he was bowing down at the house of Nis′roch his god, A‧dram′me‧lech and Shar‧e′zer, his sons, themselves struck him down with the sword, and they themselves escaped to the land of Ar′a‧rat. And E′sar‐had′don his son began to reign in place of him.