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2 Kings 19
New English Translation

19 1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests,[a] clothed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This is a day of distress, insults,[b] and humiliation,[c] as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.[d] 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.[e] When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.[f] So pray for this remnant that remains.’”[g]

5 When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard, because the Assyrian king’s officers have insulted me. 7 Look, I will take control of his mind;[h] he will receive[i] a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down[j] with a sword in his own land.”’”

8 When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.[k] 9 The king[l] heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him.[m] He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them: 10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over[n] to the king of Assyria.” 11 Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands.[o] Do you really think you will be rescued?[p] 12 Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar—rescued by their gods?[q] 13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair,[r] Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

14 Hezekiah took the letter[s] from the messengers and read it.[t] Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim![u] You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky[v] and the earth. 16 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God![w] 17 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands. 18 They have burned the gods of the nations,[x] for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.[y] 19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I have heard your prayer[z] concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 This is what the Lord says about him:[aa]

“‘“The virgin daughter Zion[ab]
despises you, she makes fun of you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head after you.[ac]
22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted,[ad]
and looked so arrogantly?[ae]
At the Holy One of Israel![af]
23 Through your messengers you taunted the Sovereign Master,[ag]
‘With my many chariots[ah]
I climbed up the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions,[ai]
its thickest woods.
24 I dug wells and drank
water in foreign lands.[aj]
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
25 [ak] Certainly you must have heard![al]
Long ago I worked it out.
In ancient times I planned[am] it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins.[an]
26 Their residents are powerless,[ao]
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field,
or green vegetation.[ap]
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops[aq]
when it is scorched by the east wind.[ar]
27 I know where you live
and everything you do.[as]
28 Because you rage against me,
and the uproar you create has reached my ears,[at]
I will put my hook in your nose,[au]
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back the way
you came.”

29 [av] “‘This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth:[aw] This year you will eat what grows wild,[ax] and next year[ay] what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.[az] 30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.[ba]

31 “‘For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;
survivors will come out of Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[bb] will accomplish this.
32 So this is what the Lord has said about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here.[bc]
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,[bd]
nor will he build siege works against it.
33 He will go back the way he came.
He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.

34 “‘I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”[be]

35 That very night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they[bf] got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.[bg] 36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.[bh] 37 One day,[bi] as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,[bj] his sons[bk] Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.[bl] They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 19:2 tn Heb “elders of the priests.”
  2. 2 Kings 19:3 tn Or “rebuke,” “correction.”
  3. 2 Kings 19:3 tn Or “contempt.”
  4. 2 Kings 19:3 tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”
  5. 2 Kings 19:4 tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”
  6. 2 Kings 19:4 tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”
  7. 2 Kings 19:4 tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”
  8. 2 Kings 19:7 tn Heb “I will put in him a spirit.” The precise sense of רוּחַ (ruakh), “spirit,” is uncertain in this context. It may refer to a spiritual being who will take control of his mind (see 1 Kgs 22:19), or it could refer to a disposition of concern and fear. In either case the Lord’s sovereignty over the king is apparent.
  9. 2 Kings 19:7 tn Heb “hear.”
  10. 2 Kings 19:7 tn Heb “cause him to fall,” that is, “kill him.”
  11. 2 Kings 19:8 tn Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”
  12. 2 Kings 19:9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  13. 2 Kings 19:9 tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘Look, he has come out to fight with you.’”
  14. 2 Kings 19:10 tn Heb “will not be given in the hand.”
  15. 2 Kings 19:11 tn Heb “Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, annihilating them.”
  16. 2 Kings 19:11 tn Heb “and will you be rescued?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No, of course not!”
  17. 2 Kings 19:12 tn Heb “Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed rescue them—Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in Telassar?”
  18. 2 Kings 19:13 sn Lair is a city located in northeastern Babylon. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 235.
  19. 2 Kings 19:14 tc The MT has the plural, “letters,” but the final mem is probably dittographic (note the initial mem on the form that immediately follows). Some Greek and Aramaic witnesses have the singular.
  20. 2 Kings 19:14 tc The MT has the plural suffix, “them,” but this probably reflects a later harmonization to the preceding textual issue concerning the plural word “letters.” The parallel passage in Isa 37:14 has the singular suffix.
  21. 2 Kings 19:15 sn This refers to the cherub images that were above the ark of the covenant.
  22. 2 Kings 19:15 tn Or “the heavens.”
  23. 2 Kings 19:16 tn Heb “Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”
  24. 2 Kings 19:18 tn Heb “and they put their gods in the fire.”
  25. 2 Kings 19:18 tn Heb “so they destroyed them.”
  26. 2 Kings 19:20 tn Heb “what you have prayed to me.”
  27. 2 Kings 19:21 tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”
  28. 2 Kings 19:21 sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.
  29. 2 Kings 19:21 sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.
  30. 2 Kings 19:22 tn Heb “have you raised a voice.”
  31. 2 Kings 19:22 tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?”
  32. 2 Kings 19:22 sn This divine title pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.
  33. 2 Kings 19:23 tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה (yehvah), “Lord.”
  34. 2 Kings 19:23 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּרֶכֶב (berekhev), but this must be dittographic (note the following רִכְבִּי [rikhbi], “my chariots”). The marginal reading (Qere) בְּרֹב (berov), “with many,” is supported by many Hebrew mss and ancient versions, as well as the parallel passage in Isa 37:24.
  35. 2 Kings 19:23 tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”
  36. 2 Kings 19:24 tn Heb “I dug and drank foreign waters.”
  37. 2 Kings 19:25 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
  38. 2 Kings 19:25 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
  39. 2 Kings 19:25 tn Heb “formed.”
  40. 2 Kings 19:25 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְּהִי (tehi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.
  41. 2 Kings 19:26 tn Heb “short of hand.”
  42. 2 Kings 19:26 tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.
  43. 2 Kings 19:26 tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.
  44. 2 Kings 19:26 tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah), “standing grain,” to קָדִים (qadim), “east wind” (with the support of 1Q Isaa in Isa 37:27).
  45. 2 Kings 19:27 tc Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The MT also has here, “and how you have raged against me.” However, this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line).
  46. 2 Kings 19:28 tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (shaʾananekha), “your complacency,” is emended to שַׁאֲוַנְךְ (shaʾavanekha), “your uproar.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38.
  47. 2 Kings 19:28 sn The word picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.
  48. 2 Kings 19:29 tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).
  49. 2 Kings 19:29 tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (ʾot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.
  50. 2 Kings 19:29 sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.
  51. 2 Kings 19:29 tn Heb “and in the second year.”
  52. 2 Kings 19:29 tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.
  53. 2 Kings 19:30 tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”
  54. 2 Kings 19:31 tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them. The Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, has “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” rather than “the zeal of the Lord” (Kethib). The translation follows the Qere here.
  55. 2 Kings 19:32 tn Heb “there.”
  56. 2 Kings 19:32 tn Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.
  57. 2 Kings 19:34 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
  58. 2 Kings 19:35 tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.
  59. 2 Kings 19:35 tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies.”
  60. 2 Kings 19:36 tn Heb “and Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.”
  61. 2 Kings 19:37 sn The assassination probably took place in 681 b.c.
  62. 2 Kings 19:37 sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a textual variation of Nusku, the Mesopotamian god of light and fire. Other proposals have tried to relate the name to Ashur, the chief god of the Assyria, or to Ninurta, the Assyrian god of war.
  63. 2 Kings 19:37 tc Although “his sons” is absent in the Kethib, it is supported by the Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions. Cf. Isa 37:38.
  64. 2 Kings 19:37 sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.
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2 Kings 19
International Standard Version

Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

19 When King Hezekiah heard Eliakim’s report,[a] he tore his clothes, put on a sackcloth covering, entered the Lord’s Temple, 2 and sent Eliakim the household supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests—all of them covered in sackcloth—to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah. 3 They announced to him:

“This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy,[b] because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.’”

5 That is how the King Hezekiah’s servants approached Isaiah.

6 In reply, Isaiah responded to them, “Here’s how you’re to report to your master:

‘This is what the Lord says: “Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Look! I’m going to cause an attitude[c] to grow within him so that he’ll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I’ll make him die by the sword in his own land!”’”

Sennacherib Defies God(A)

8 So Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria at war with Libnah, because Rab-shakeh had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 When he heard that it was being said about King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,[d] “Look! He has come out to attack you!” he again sent messengers to Hezekiah.

The messengers were told, 10 “This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you[e] “Jerusalem won’t be turned over to the control[f] of Assyria’s king.” 11 ‘Look! you’ve heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands—they completely destroyed them! Will you be spared? 12 Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden’s descendants in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Help

14 Hezekiah took the messages from the couriers, read them, went up to the Lord’s Temple, and laid them out in the presence of the Lord. 15 Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the Lord, “Lord God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth. 16 Turn[g] your ear, Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God! 17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, 18 throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren’t gods but rather were the product of men’s handiwork—wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. 19 Now, Lord our God, I’m praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God!”

God’s Answer through Isaiah the Prophet

20 Then Amoz’s son Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have listened.’”

21 “This is what the Lord has spoken against him:

‘She despises and mocks you,
    this virgin daughter of Zion!
Behind your back she shakes her head,
    this daughter of Jerusalem!
22 Who are you reproaching and blaspheming?
    Against whom have you raised your voice?
And against whom[h] have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance?
    Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By your messengers you have insulted the Lord.
    You have claimed,
“With my many chariots
    I ascended the heights of the mountains,
        including the remotest regions of Lebanon;
I cut down its tall cedars
    and the best of its cypress trees.
I entered its most remote lodging place
    and its most fruitful[i] forest.
24 I myself dug for and drank foreign water.
    With the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt!”

25 ‘Didn’t you hear?
    I determined it years ago!
I planned this from ancient times,
    and now I’ve brought it to pass,
to turn fortified cities
    into piles of ruins
26 while their inhabitants, lacking strength,
    stand dismayed and confused.
They were like vegetation out in the fields,
    and like green herbs—
just as grass that grows on a housetop
    dries out before it can grow.

27 ‘But when you sit down,
    when you go out,
and when you come in,
    I’m aware of it!
28 Because of your rage against me,
    your complacency has reached my ears.
I’ll put my hook into your nostrils
    and my bit into your mouth.
Then I’ll turn you back on the road
    by which you came.’

29 “This will serve as a sign for you: you’ll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you’ll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoy[j] their fruit. 30 Those who survive from Judah’s household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively,[k] 31 because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord[l] will bring this about.”

32 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won’t approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it. 33 He’ll return on the same route by which he came—he won’t come to this city,’ declares the Lord. 34 ‘I will defend this city and preserve it for my own reasons, and because of my servant David.’”

God Destroys the Assyrian Army(B)

35 That very night, the angel of the Lord went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel[m] arose, all 185,000 soldiers[n] were dead. 36 As a result, King Sennacherib of Assyria left and returned to Nineveh where he lived. 37 Later on, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech[o] and Sharezer killed him with a sword and fled into the territory of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’s[p] son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 19:1 The Heb. lacks Eliakim’s report
  2. 2 Kings 19:3 Or contempt
  3. 2 Kings 19:7 Or to bring a spirit
  4. 2 Kings 19:9 Lit. Cush
  5. 2 Kings 19:10 The Heb. lacks you
  6. 2 Kings 19:10 Lit. hand
  7. 2 Kings 19:16 Or Bow down
  8. 2 Kings 19:22 The Heb. lacks against whom
  9. 2 Kings 19:23 Or its densest
  10. 2 Kings 19:29 Lit. eat
  11. 2 Kings 19:30 Or upwards
  12. 2 Kings 19:31 So MT; LXX and a MT variant read Lord of the Heavenly Armies
  13. 2 Kings 19:35 Lit. when they
  14. 2 Kings 19:35 The Heb. lacks 185,000 soldiers
  15. 2 Kings 19:37 So MT; LXX and a MT variant read his sons Adrammelech
  16. 2 Kings 19:37 Lit. his
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