2 Kings 19:14-37
Christian Standard Bible
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah took(A) the letter(B) from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord.(C) 15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord:
Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,(D) you are God—you alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.(E) 16 Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see.(F) Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.(G) 17 Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands.(H) 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone.(I) So they have destroyed them. 19 Now, Lord our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God—you alone.(J)
God’s Answer through Isaiah
20 Then(K) Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘I have heard your prayer(L) to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.’(M) 21 This is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion(N)
despises you and scorns you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head behind your back.(O)
22 Who is it you mocked and blasphemed?(P)
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!(Q)
23 You have mocked the Lord[a] through[b] your messengers.(R)
You have said, ‘With my many chariots(S)
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its farthest outpost,
its densest forest.
24 I dug wells
and drank water in foreign lands.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt(T)
with the soles of my feet.’
25 Have you not heard?(U)
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by.
I have now brought it to pass,(V)
and you have crushed fortified cities
into piles of rubble.
26 Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,(W)
blasted by the east wind.[c]
27 But I know your sitting down,(X)
your going out and your coming in,
and your raging against me.
28 Because your raging against me
and your arrogance have reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose(Y)
and my bit in your mouth;
I will make you go back
the way you came.
29 “This will be the sign(Z) for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 The surviving remnant(AA) of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors, from Mount Zion.(AB) The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.(AC)
32 Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city,
shoot an arrow here,
come before it with a shield,
or build up a siege ramp against it.(AD)
33 He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
34 I will defend this city and rescue it
for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”(AE)
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!(AF) 36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.(AG)
37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech(AH) and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat.(AI) Then his son Esar-haddon(AJ) became king in his place.
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2 Kings 20
Christian Standard Bible
Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
20 In those days(A) Hezekiah became terminally ill.(B) The prophet Isaiah(C) son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”(D)
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall(E) and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Please, Lord, remember(F) how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.”[a](G) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.(H)
4 Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader(I) of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;(J) I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”(K)
7 Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.(L)
8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign(M) that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day?”
9 Isaiah said, “This is the sign(N) to you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps?”
10 Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 So the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow[b] back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.[c](O)
Hezekiah’s Folly
12 At that time(P) Merodach-baladan[d] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.(Q)
14 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”
15 Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”
Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’(R) says the Lord. 18 ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away,(S) and they will become eunuchs[e] in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”(T)
19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,”(U) for he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?”
Hezekiah’s Death
20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool(V) and the tunnel and brought water into the city,(W) are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(X) 21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.(Y)
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