Hezekiah’s Cry of Desperation

19 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the House of Adonai. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe and the senior kohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz.

³ Then they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, rebuke and contempt. For children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength for giving birth. ⁴ Perhaps Adonai your God, hearing all the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to mock the living God, will rebuke the words which Adonai your God has heard. So offer prayer for the remnant that is left.”

⁵ When the officials of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them: “Thus you will say to your master, ‘Thus says Adonai: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the boys of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Behold, I am putting a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor, and will return to his own country; then I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

⁸ Then the Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had withdrawn from Lachish. ⁹ Now he heard a report of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia saying, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying: ¹⁰ “Thus will you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying: 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 lands—utterly destroying them—so will you be delivered? ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered those my fathers destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, or the king of Arpad, or the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, or Ivvah?’”

¹⁴ Then Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the House of Adonai and spread it before Adonai. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before Adonai, saying, “Adonai, God of Israel, who is enthroned upon the cheruvim. You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Incline Your ear, Adonai, and hear! Open Your eyes, Adonai, and see! Listen to the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁷ It is true, Adonai, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire—for they were not gods, but the work of human hands—wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, Adonai our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Adonai, are God.”

²⁰ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says Adonai, God of Israel: ‘Because you prayed to Me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have heard you. ²¹ This is the word that Adonai has spoken about him:

²⁹ ‘ “So this shall be the sign to you: This year you will eat what grows by itself, in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³⁰ “‘The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹ For from Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot will accomplish this.’”

³² Therefore thus says Adonai concerning the king of Assyria:

³⁵ Then it came about that night that the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. ³⁶ So King Sennacherib of Assyria withdrew, went away, and returned home, and stayed in Nineveh. ³⁷ One day, as he was worshipping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sarezer struck him down with the sword, and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

Betrayed and Arrested

18 When Yeshua had said these things, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley,^[a] where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. ² Now Judah, who was betraying Him, also knew the place, because Yeshua had often met there with His disciples. ³ So Judah, having taken a band of soldiers and some officers from the ruling kohanim and Pharisees, comes there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. ⁴ Then Yeshua, knowing all the things coming upon Him, went forward. He said to them, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵ “Yeshua ha-Natzrati,” they answered Him.

Yeshua tells them, “I am.” Now Judah, the one betraying Him, was also standing with them. ⁶ So when Yeshua said to them, “I am,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷ So again He asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And they said, “Yeshua ha-Natzrati.”

⁸ Yeshua answered, “I told you, I am! If you’re looking for Me, let these men go their way.” ⁹ This was so the word would be fulfilled that He spoke: “I did not lose one of those You have given Me.”^[b]

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the kohen gadol, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ So Yeshua said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath! The cup the Father has given Me—shall I never drink it?”

Interrogated and Tried

¹² Then the band of soldiers, with the captain and the officers of the Judeans, seized Yeshua and tied Him up. ¹³ They led Him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the kohen gadol that year. ¹⁴ Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Judean leaders that it was better for one man to die on behalf of the people.

¹⁵ Simon Peter was following Yeshua with another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the kohen gadol, so he went with Yeshua into the court of the kohen gadol. ¹⁶ But Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the kohen gadol, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.

¹⁷ The maidservant at the door says to Peter, “Aren’t you one of this Man’s disciples too?”

He says, “No, I’m not.” ¹⁸ The servants and officers were standing around a fire they had made, because it was cold and they were warming themselves. And Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.

¹⁹ The kohen gadol then questioned Yeshua about His disciples and His teaching. ²⁰ “I have spoken openly to the world,” Yeshua answered him. “I always taught in the synagogues and the Temple, where all the Jewish people come together. I spoke nothing in secret. ²¹ Why question Me? Ask those who have heard what I spoke to them. Look, they know what I said.”

²² When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby gave Yeshua a slap, saying, “Is that the way you answer the kohen gadol?”

²³ Yeshua answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, give evidence of the wrong; but if rightly, why hit Me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent Him, still tied up, to Caiaphas, the kohen gadol.

²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing outside and warming himself. So they said to him, “Aren’t you one of His disciples too?”

He denied it and said, “No, I’m not!”

²⁶ One of the servants of the kohen gadol, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with Him?”

²⁷ Again Peter denied it, and immediately a rooster crowed.

²⁸ Then they led Yeshua from Caiaphas to the Praetorium.^[c] It was early. They themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so they would not become unclean but might eat the Passover. ²⁹ Therefore Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰ They answered, “If He weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have handed Him over to you.”

³¹ Then Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him by your Torah!”

The Judean leaders responded, “We are not authorized to put anyone to death.” ³² This happened so that the word Yeshua spoke would be fulfilled, signifying what kind of death He was about to die.

³³ So Pilate went back into the Praetorium, called for Yeshua, and asked Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

³⁴ “Are you saying this on your own,” Yeshua answered, “or did others tell you about Me?”

³⁵ Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and ruling kohanim handed You over to me! What have You done?”

³⁶ Yeshua answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Judean leaders. But as it is, My kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷ So Pilate said to Him, “Are you a king, then?”

Yeshua answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, so that I might testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

³⁸ Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” After he said this, he went out again to the Judean leaders. He said to them, “I find no case against Him. ³⁹ But it’s your custom that I release someone for you at Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

⁴⁰ They shouted back, “Not this One, but Bar-Abba!” Now Bar-Abba^[d] was a revolutionary.