2 Kings 19
New Living Translation
Hezekiah Seeks the Lord’s Help
19 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 4 But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff,[a] sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”
5 After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah, 6 the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. 7 Listen! I myself will move against him,[b] and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”
8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia[c] was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. 11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? 12 Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! 13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 16 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
17 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 18 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. 19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 And the Lord has spoken this word against him:
“The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in derision as you flee.
22 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel!
23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest corners
and explored its deepest forests.
24 I have dug wells in many foreign lands
and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot
I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
25 “But have you not heard?
I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
26 That is why their people have so little power
and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass,
as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,
scorched before it can grow lush and tall.
27 “But I know you well—
where you stay
and when you come and go.
I know the way you have raged against me.
28 And because of your raging against me
and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
by the same road on which you came.”
29 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true:
“This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
and next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;
you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 And you who are left in Judah,
who have escaped the ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own soil
and will grow up and flourish.
31 For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[d]
will make this happen!
32 “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside its gates with their shields
nor build banks of earth against its walls.
33 The king will return to his own country
by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,
says the Lord.
34 For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
I will defend this city and protect it.”
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians[e] woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
37 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons[f] Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
Footnotes
- 19:4 Or the rabshakeh; also in 19:8.
- 19:7 Hebrew I will put a spirit in him.
- 19:9 Hebrew of Cush.
- 19:31 As in Greek and Syriac versions, Latin Vulgate, and an alternate reading of the Masoretic Text (see also Isa 37:32); the other alternate reads the Lord.
- 19:35 Hebrew When they.
- 19:37 As in Greek version and an alternate reading of the Masoretic Text (see also Isa 37:38); the other alternate reading lacks his sons.
2 Kings 19
Legacy Standard Bible
Isaiah Tells Hezekiah Not to Be Afraid
19 (A)Now it happened that when King Hezekiah heard it, he (B)tore his clothes, (C)covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh. 2 Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, (D)covered with sackcloth, to (E)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, reproof, and rejection; for children have come to the point of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth. 4 (F)Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent (G)to [a]reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, lift up a prayer for (H)the remnant that is left.’” 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the (I)young men of the king of Assyria (J)have blasphemed Me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that (K)he will hear a report and return to his own land. And (L)I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
Sennacherib Deceives Hezekiah
8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against (M)Libnah, for he had heard that [b]the king had set out from (N)Lachish. 9 Then he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of [c]Ethiopia, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying, 10 “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of [d]Judah, ‘Do not (O)let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “(P)Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. So will you be delivered? 12 (Q)Did the gods of [e]those nations which my fathers brought to ruin deliver them, even (R)Gozan and (S)Haran and Rezeph and (T)the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 (U)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Then (V)Hezekiah took the [f]letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of Yahweh and [g]spread it out before Yahweh. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, (W)who is [h]enthroned above the cherubim, (X)You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 (Y)Incline Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; (Z)open Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, who sent them (AA)to [i]reproach the living God. 17 Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have put their gods into the fire, (AB)for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 19 But now, O Yahweh our God, I pray, save us from his hand (AC)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O (AD)Yahweh, are God.”
Isaiah Speaks of Sennacherib’s Fall
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, (AE)I have heard you.’ 21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him:
‘She has despised you and mocked you,
(AF)The virgin daughter of Zion;
She (AG)has shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
22 Whom have you [j](AH)reproached and (AI)blasphemed?
And against whom have you heightened your voice,
And [k]haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the (AJ)Holy One of Israel!
23 (AK)Through your messengers you have [l]reproached the Lord,
And you have said, “With my many chariots
I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I [m]cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.
And I [n]entered its farthest lodging place, its (AL)thickest forest.
24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters,
And with the sole of my feet I [o](AM)dried up
All the rivers of [p]Egypt.”
25 ‘(AN)Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it;
From days of old I formed it.
(AO)Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should devastate fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
26 So their inhabitants were short of power,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were (AP)as the plant of the field and as the green herb,
As grass on the rooftops is scorched before it rises.
27 But (AQ)I know your sitting down,
And your going out and your coming in,
And your raging against Me.
28 Because of your raging against Me,
And because your [q]presumptuousness has come up to My ears,
Therefore I (AR)will put My hook in your nose,
And My bridle in your lips,
And (AS)I will turn you back by the way which you came.
29 ‘Then this shall be (AT)the sign for you: [r]you will eat this year what grows of its own accord, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 (AU)And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and (AV)out of Mount Zion [s]survivors. (AW)The zeal of [t]Yahweh will do this.
32 ‘Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, “(AX)He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. 33 (AY)By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares Yahweh. 34 ‘(AZ)Indeed I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and (BA)for My servant David’s sake.’”
35 (BB)Now it happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And the [u]men arose early in the morning, and behold, all of [v]them were dead bodies. 36 So (BC)Sennacherib king of Assyria set out and went away and returned home and lived at (BD)Nineveh. 37 Now it happened that as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, [w](BE)Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into (BF)the land of Ararat. And (BG)Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 19:4 Or defy, cf. 1 Sam 17:26
- 2 Kings 19:8 Lit he
- 2 Kings 19:9 Or Cush, cf. Gen 10:6
- 2 Kings 19:10 Lit Judah, saying,
- 2 Kings 19:12 Lit the
- 2 Kings 19:14 Lit letters...read them
- 2 Kings 19:14 Lit Hezekiah spread
- 2 Kings 19:15 Lit seated
- 2 Kings 19:16 Or defy, cf. 1 Sam 17:26
- 2 Kings 19:22 Or defied, cf. 1 Sam 17:26
- 2 Kings 19:22 Lit on high
- 2 Kings 19:23 Or defied, cf. 1 Sam 17:26
- 2 Kings 19:23 As in some ancient versions; M.T. will cut...will enter
- 2 Kings 19:23 As in some ancient versions; M.T. will cut...will enter
- 2 Kings 19:24 As in some ancient versions; M.T. will dry up
- 2 Kings 19:24 Lit the besieged place
- 2 Kings 19:28 Or complacency
- 2 Kings 19:29 Lit eating
- 2 Kings 19:31 Lit those who escape
- 2 Kings 19:31 Some ancient mss Yahweh of hosts
- 2 Kings 19:35 Lit they
- 2 Kings 19:35 Assyrians
- 2 Kings 19:37 Some ancient mss Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.