2 KingsChapter 19

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¹King Hezekiah heard this report. He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the house of the LORD. ²He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the scribe to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. He also sent the leaders of the priests. All of them were wearing sackcloth. ³They told Isaiah, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, of correction, and of shame. It is like when a baby is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to give birth. ⁴The king of Assyria sent his field commander to make fun of the living God. Maybe the LORD your God will hear all the words he said. Maybe the LORD your God will punish him for the words he has heard. So please pray for the few people who are still left alive." ⁵So King Hezekiah's servants went to Isaiah. ⁶Isaiah answered them, "Tell your master this is what the LORD says: 'Do not be afraid of the words you have heard. The servants of the king of Assyria have spoken against me with those words. ⁷Listen! I will put a spirit in him. He will hear a rumor and go back to his own land. And there I will make him die by the sword.'" ⁸The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. So he went back and found the king fighting against the town of Libnah. ⁹Now Sennacherib had heard a report about Tirhakah king of Cush. It said, "Look! He has set out to fight against you." So Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah again. He told them, ¹⁰"Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Your God, the one you trust, says that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. Don't let him fool you. ¹¹You have surely heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries. They destroyed them completely. So do you think you will be saved? ¹²My ancestors destroyed many nations. Did the gods of those nations save them? Did the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph save them? Did the gods of the people of Eden in Telassar save them? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath? Where are the kings of Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'" ¹⁴Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the house of the LORD. He spread the letter out in front of the LORD. ¹⁵Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. "O LORD, God of Israel, you sit on your throne between the cherubim. You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶Turn your ear to me, O LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to make fun of the living God. ¹⁷It is true, O LORD, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed these nations and their lands. ¹⁸They have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and destroyed them. They could do this because those were not really gods. They were only wood and stone made by human hands. ¹⁹Now, O LORD our God, please save us from his power. Do this so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O LORD, are God." ²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah. "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²¹This is the word the LORD has spoken against him:
'The Virgin Daughter of Zion
looks down on you and laughs at you.
The Daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head behind your back. ²²Who have you made fun of and spoken against?
Who have you yelled at?
Who have you looked at with proud eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel! ²³You sent your messengers to make fun of the Lord.
You said, "I have many chariots.
With them I have gone up to the tops of the mountains.
I have climbed the farthest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedar trees
and its best cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest places,
its thickest forests. ²⁴I have dug wells
and drunk water in foreign lands.
With the bottoms of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt." ²⁵Haven't you heard?
I decided this long ago.
I planned it in days of old.
Now I have made it happen.
I let you crush walled cities
into piles of broken stone. ²⁶That is why the people who live there have no power.
They are afraid and ashamed.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots.
They are like grass on the rooftops
that dries up before it can grow. ²⁷But I know when you sit down.
I know when you go out and when you come in.
I know how angry you are with me. ²⁸You have been angry and proud against me,
and I have heard it.
So I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you go back
the same way you came.' ²⁹Hezekiah, this will be a sign for you:
This year you will eat what grows by itself.
Next year you will eat what grows from that.
But in the third year you will plant seeds and harvest crops.
You will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³⁰The few people of Judah who are left
will once again send roots down
and grow fruit up above. ³¹Some people will be left alive and go out from Jerusalem.
Some will escape from Mount Zion.
The strong zeal of the LORD of Hosts
will make this happen. ³²So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:
'He will not come into this city.
He will not even shoot an arrow here.
He will not come near it with a shield.
He will not build a dirt ramp against its walls to attack it. ³³He will go back the same way he came.
He will not come into this city,
says the LORD. ³⁴I will guard this city and save it.
I will do it for my own sake
and for the sake of my servant David.'" ³⁵That very night the angel of the LORD went out. He killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere! ³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria packed up his camp and left. He went back home to Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁷One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch. His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.