2 Kings 19
1 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 Jehovah.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who 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 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 Jehovah thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king
of Assyria his master hath sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the
words which Jehovah thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the
remnant that is left.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith
Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants
of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall
return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own
land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah;
for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 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 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, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by
destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed,
Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar?
13 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 received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read
it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of Jehovah, and spread it before
Jehovah.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel,
that sittest [above] the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the
kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16 Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see;
and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to defy the living
God.
17 Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and
their lands,
18 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 Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save thou us, I beseech thee, out of his
hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou Jehovah art God
alone.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, 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 Jehovah 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 hast thou defied 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 thy messengers thou hast defied 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 digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I
dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
25 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 it should be thine to lay waste
fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
26 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 grain blasted before it is grown up.
27 But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy
raging against me.
28 Because of thy raging against me, and because 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 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 the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root
downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they
that shall escape: the zeal of Jehovah shall perform this.
32 Therefore thus saith Jehovah 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 up a mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come
unto this city, saith Jehovah.
34 For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant
David's sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and
smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and
when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at
Nineveh.
37 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.