2 Kings 19
International Children’s Bible
Jerusalem Will Be Saved
19 When King Hezekiah heard the message, he tore his clothes. And he put on rough cloth to show how sad he was. Then he went into the Temple of the Lord. 2 Hezekiah sent Eliakim, Shebna and the older priests to Isaiah. Eliakim was the palace manager, and Shebna was the royal assistant. The men were all wearing the rough cloth when they came to Isaiah. He was a prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 These men told Isaiah, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of sorrow and punishment and disgrace. It is sad, as when a child should be born, but the mother is not strong enough to give birth to it. 4 The king of Assyria sent his field commander to make fun of the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will hear what the commander said. Maybe the Lord your God will punish him for what he said. So pray for the few people of Israel who are left alive.”
5 When Hezekiah’s officers came to Isaiah, 6 he said to them, “Tell your master this: The Lord says, ‘Don’t be afraid of what you have heard. Don’t be frightened by the words the servants of the king of Assyria said against me. 7 Listen! I am going to put a spirit in the king of Assyria. He will hear a report that will make him return to his own country. And I will cause him to die by the sword there.’”
8 The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. So the commander left and found the king fighting against the city of Libnah.
9 The king received a report that Tirhakah was coming to attack him. Tirhakah was the Cushite king of Egypt. When the king of Assyria heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah. The king said: 10 “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: Don’t be fooled by the god you trust. Don’t believe him when he says Jerusalem will not be defeated by the king of Assyria. 11 You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done. They have completely defeated every country. Do not think you will be saved. 12 The gods of those people did not save them. My ancestors destroyed them. My ancestors defeated the cities of Gozan, Haran and Rezeph. They defeated the people of Eden living in Tel Assar. 13 Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the king of the city of Sepharvaim? Where are the kings of Hena and Ivvah?”
Hezekiah Prays to the Lord
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the Temple of the Lord. Hezekiah spread the letter out before the Lord. 15 And he prayed to the Lord: “Lord, God of Israel, your throne is between the gold creatures with wings! Only you are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 16 Hear, Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the word Sennacherib has said to insult the living God. 17 It is true, Lord. The kings of Assyria have destroyed these countries and their lands. 18 These kings have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire. But they were only wood and rock statues that men made. So the kings have destroyed them. 19 Now, Lord our God, save us from the king’s power. Then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you, Lord, are the only God.”
God Answers Hezekiah
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah. Isaiah said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: I have heard your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria. 21 So this is what the Lord has said against Sennacherib:
‘The people of Jerusalem
hate you and make fun of you.
The people of Jerusalem
laugh at you as you run away.
22 You have insulted me and spoken against me.
You have raised your voice against me.
You have a proud look on your face.
You disobey me, the Holy One of Israel!
23 You have used your messengers to insult the Lord.
You have said, “I have many chariots.
With them I have gone to the tops of the mountains.
I have climbed the highest mountains of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars.
I have cut down its best pine trees.
I have reached its farthest places.
I have gone to its best forests.
24 I have dug wells in foreign countries.
I have drunk water there.
By the soles of my feet,
I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”
25 “‘King of Assyria, surely you have heard.
Long ago I, the Lord, planned these things.
Long ago I planned them.
Now I have made them happen.
I allowed you to turn those strong, walled cities
into piles of rocks.
26 The people living in those cities were weak.
They were frightened and put to shame.
They were like grass in the field.
They were like tender, young grass.
They were like grass that grows on the housetop.
It is burned by the wind before it can grow.
27 “‘I know when you rest and when you come and go.
I know how you speak against me.
28 You speak strongly against me.
And I have heard your proud words.
So I will put my hook in your nose.
And I will put my bit in your mouth.
Then I will force you to leave my country
the same way that you came.’
29 “Then the Lord said, ‘Hezekiah, I will give you this sign:
This year you will eat the grain that grows wild.
And the second year you will eat what grows wild from that.
But in the third year, plant grain and harvest it.
Plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 Some of the people in the family of Judah
will be saved.
Like plants that take root,
they will grow strong and have many children.
31 A few people will come out of Jerusalem alive.
There will be a few from Mount Zion who will live.
The strong love of the Lord of heaven’s armies
will cause this to happen.’
32 “So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
‘He will not enter this city.
He will not even shoot an arrow here.
He will not fight against it with shields.
He will not build a ramp to attack the city walls.
33 He will return to his country the same way he came.
He will not enter this city,’
says the Lord.
34 The Lord says, ‘I will defend and save this city.
I will do this for myself and for David, my servant.’”
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out. He killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. The people got up early the next morning. And they saw all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria left. He went back to Nineveh and stayed there.
37 One day Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch. While he was there, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. So Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon became king of Assyria.
2 Kings 19
English Standard Version
Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah
19 (A)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, (B)he tore his clothes and (C)covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, (D)covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 (E)It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent (F)to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for (G)the remnant that is left.” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which (H)the servants of the king of Assyria have (I)reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that (J)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him (K)fall by the sword in his own land.’”
Sennacherib Defies the Lord
8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against (L)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left (M)Lachish. 9 (N)Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God (O)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that (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 lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 (Q)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, (R)Gozan, (S)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of (T)Eden who were in Telassar? 13 (U)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah's Prayer
14 Hezekiah received (V)the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, (W)enthroned above the cherubim, (X)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. 16 (Y)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; (Z)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent (AA)to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, (AB)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, (AC)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that (AD)you, O Lord, are God alone.”
Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria (AE)I have heard. 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“She despises you, she scorns you—
(AF)the virgin daughter of Zion;
she (AG)wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
22 “Whom have you (AH)mocked and (AI)reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against (AJ)the Holy One of Israel!
23 (AK)By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, (AL)‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of (AM)Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest lodging place,
its most (AN)fruitful forest.
24 I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams (AO)of Egypt.’
25 “Have you not heard
that (AP)I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what (AQ)now I bring to pass,
that you should turn fortified cities
into heaps of ruins,
26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become (AR)like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.
27 “But I know your sitting down
(AS)and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
28 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will (AT)put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and (AU)I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.
29 “And this shall be (AV)the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 (AW)And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion (AX)a band of survivors. (AY)The zeal of the Lord will do this.
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or (AZ)cast up a siege mound against it. 33 (BA)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 (BB)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake (BC)and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 And that night (BD)the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at (BE)Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, (BF)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
2 Reyes 19
Nueva Biblia de las Américas
Ezequías y el profeta Isaías
19 (A)Cuando el rey Ezequías oyó esto rasgó sus vestidos(B), se cubrió de cilicio(C) y entró en la casa del Señor. 2 Envió entonces a Eliaquim, mayordomo de la casa real, con el escriba Sebna y los ancianos de los sacerdotes, cubiertos de cilicio(D), para hablar con el profeta Isaías, hijo de Amoz(E). 3 Y ellos le dijeron: «Así dice Ezequías: “Este día es día de angustia, de reprensión y de desprecio, pues hijos están para nacer, pero no hay fuerzas para dar a luz. 4 Tal vez el Señor tu Dios oirá todas las palabras del Rabsaces(F), a quien su señor, el rey de Asiria, ha enviado para injuriar al Dios vivo, y lo reprenderá por las palabras que el Señor tu Dios ha oído(G). Eleva, pues, una oración por el remanente que aún queda(H)”».
5 Cuando llegaron los siervos del rey Ezequías ante Isaías, 6 este les dijo: «Así dirán a su señor: “Así dice el Señor: ‘No temas por las palabras que has oído, con las que los criados del rey de Asiria(I) me han blasfemado(J). 7 Yo pondré en él un espíritu, oirá un rumor(K) y se volverá a su tierra; y en su tierra lo haré caer a espada(L)’”».
8 Entonces el Rabsaces volvió y halló al rey de Asiria peleando contra Libna(M), pues había oído que el rey había partido de Laquis(N). 9 Y les oyó decir acerca de Tirhaca, rey de Cus[a]: «Ha salido a pelear contra ti». Entonces envió de nuevo mensajeros a Ezequías, diciendo: 10 «Así dirán a Ezequías, rey de Judá: “No te engañe tu Dios en quien tú confías(O), diciendo: ‘Jerusalén no será entregada en mano del rey de Asiria(P)’. 11 Tú has oído lo que los reyes de Asiria han hecho a todas las naciones[b], destruyéndolas por completo, ¿y serás tú librado? 12 ¿Acaso los libraron los dioses de las naciones que mis padres destruyeron(Q), es decir, Gozán(R), Harán(S), Resef y a los hijos de Edén que estaban en Telasar(T)? 13 ¿Dónde está el rey de Hamat, el rey de Arfad, el rey de la ciudad de Sefarvaim, de Hena y de Iva(U)?”».
14 Entonces Ezequías tomó la carta de mano de los mensajeros y la leyó, y subió a la casa del Señor y la extendió delante del Señor(V). 15 Y oró Ezequías delante del Señor, y dijo: «Oh Señor, Dios de Israel, que estás sobre los querubines(W), solo Tú eres Dios de todos los reinos de la tierra(X). Tú hiciste los cielos y la tierra. 16 Inclina, oh Señor, Tu oído y escucha; abre, oh Señor, Tus ojos y mira(Y); escucha las palabras que Senaquerib ha enviado para injuriar al Dios vivo(Z). 17 En verdad, oh Señor, los reyes de Asiria han asolado las naciones y sus tierras, 18 y han echado sus dioses al fuego, porque no eran dioses, sino obra de manos de hombre, de madera y piedra(AA); por eso los han destruido. 19 Y ahora, oh Señor, Dios nuestro, líbranos, te ruego, de su mano para que todos los reinos de la tierra sepan que solo Tú(AB), oh Señor, eres Dios(AC)».
20 Entonces Isaías, hijo de Amoz, envió a decir a Ezequías: «Así dice el Señor, Dios de Israel: “Lo que me has rogado acerca de Senaquerib, rey de Asiria, he escuchado(AD)”. 21 Esta es la palabra que el Señor ha hablado contra él:
“Te ha despreciado y se ha burlado de ti
La virgen hija de Sión(AE);
Ha movido la cabeza(AF) a tus espaldas
La hija de Jerusalén.
22 -”¿A quién has injuriado y blasfemado(AG)?
¿Y contra quién has alzado la voz
Y levantado con orgullo tus ojos?
¡Contra el Santo de Israel(AH)!
23 -”Por mano de tus mensajeros has injuriado al Señor,
Y has dicho: ‘Con mis numerosos carros
Subí a las cumbres de los montes(AI),
A las partes más remotas del Líbano;
Corté sus altos cedros y sus mejores cipreses,
Y entré en su morada más lejana, en su más frondoso bosque(AJ).
24 -’Yo cavé pozos(AK) y bebí aguas extranjeras,
Y sequé con la planta de mi pie
Todos los ríos de Egipto’.
25 ¶”¿No has oído?
Hace mucho tiempo que lo hice,
Desde la antigüedad lo había planeado(AL).
Ahora lo he realizado(AM),
Para que conviertas las ciudades fortificadas
En montones de ruinas.
26 -”Sus habitantes, faltos de fuerzas,
Fueron desalentados y humillados;
Vinieron a ser como la vegetación del campo
Y como la hierba verde,
Como la hierba en los techos que se quema
Antes de que haya crecido(AN).
27 -”Pero conozco tu sentarte,
Tu salir y tu entrar,
Y tu furor contra Mí(AO).
28 -”Porque estás lleno de ira contra Mí,
Y porque tu arrogancia[c] ha subido hasta Mis oídos,
Pondré, pues, Mi argolla en tu nariz(AP)
Y Mi freno en tus labios,
Y te haré volver por el camino por donde viniste(AQ).
29 ”Esto te será por señal(AR): Este año ustedes comerán lo que crezca espontáneamente; el segundo año lo que nazca de por sí, y en el tercer año siembren, sieguen, planten viñas y coman su fruto. 30 Y el remanente de la casa de Judá(AS) que se salve, de nuevo echará raíces por debajo y dará fruto por arriba. 31 Porque de Jerusalén saldrá un remanente, y del monte Sión sobrevivientes(AT). El celo del Señor de los ejércitos hará esto(AU).
32 ”Por tanto, así dice el Señor acerca del rey de Asiria: ‘Él no entrará en esta ciudad, ni lanzará allí flecha alguna; tampoco vendrá delante de ella con escudo, ni levantará terraplén contra ella(AV). 33 Por el camino que vino, por él se volverá(AW), y no entrará en esta ciudad’”, declara el Señor. 34 “Porque defenderé esta ciudad para salvarla por amor a Mí mismo(AX) y por amor a Mi siervo David(AY)”».
Muerte de Senaquerib
35 Aconteció que aquella misma noche salió el ángel del Señor e hirió a 185,000 en el campamento de los asirios. Cuando los demás se levantaron por la mañana, vieron que todos eran cadáveres(AZ). 36 Senaquerib, rey de Asiria, salió y regresó a su tierra(BA), y habitó en Nínive(BB). 37 Y mientras él adoraba en la casa de su dios Nisroc, Adramelec y Sarezer lo mataron a espada(BC) y huyeron a la tierra de Ararat(BD). Y su hijo(BE) Esar Hadón reinó en su lugar.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Nueva Biblia de las Américas™ NBLA™ Copyright © 2005 por The Lockman Foundation
