列王纪下 19-20
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
希西迦向以赛亚求助
19 希西迦王听了就撕裂衣服，披上麻衣，进入耶和华的殿。 2 他派身披麻衣的宫廷总管以利亚敬、书记舍伯那和祭司中的长者去见亚摩斯的儿子以赛亚先知， 3 对他说：“希西迦说，‘今天是遭难、蒙羞、受辱的日子，就像婴儿要出生，产妇却无力生产一样。 4 亚述王派他的将军来辱骂永活的上帝，也许你的上帝耶和华听见那些话，就会惩罚他。所以，请你为我们这些剩下的人祷告。’” 5 希西迦王的臣仆说完这些话后， 6 以赛亚对他们说：“告诉你们主人，耶和华这样说，‘你不要因亚述王的仆人那些亵渎我的话而害怕。 7 我必惊动[a]亚述王的心，让他听见一些风声后便返回本国，在那里死于刀下。’”
希西迦向上帝祷告
8 亚述的将军听说亚述王已离开拉吉，便回去见王，发现王在攻打立拿。 9 亚述王听说古实王特哈加正前来攻打他，便再次派使者去对希西迦说： 10 “不要让你所倚靠的上帝愚弄你，说什么耶路撒冷必不会被亚述王攻陷。 11 你肯定听过亚述诸王扫灭列国的事，难道你能幸免吗？ 12 我先祖毁灭了歌散、哈兰、利色和提·拉撒的伊甸人，这些国家的神明救得了他们吗？ 13 哈马王、亚珥拔王、西法瓦音城的王、希拿王和以瓦王如今在哪里呢？”
14 希西迦从使者手中接过信，读完后走进耶和华的殿，在耶和华面前展开信， 15 祷告说：“坐在二基路伯天使之上、以色列的上帝耶和华啊，唯有你是天下万国的上帝，你创造了天地。 16 耶和华啊，求你侧耳垂听！耶和华啊，求你睁眼察看！求你听听西拿基立派使者来辱骂永活上帝的话。 17 耶和华啊，亚述诸王确实扫灭列国，使其土地荒凉， 18 把列国的神像丢在火中。因为那些神像只是人用木头石头制造的，根本不是神。 19 我们的上帝耶和华啊，现在求你从亚述王手中拯救我们，让天下万国都知道唯有你是耶和华。”
以赛亚给希西迦的信息
20 亚摩斯的儿子以赛亚派人告诉希西迦：“以色列的上帝耶和华说，‘我已经听见你关于亚述王西拿基立的祷告。 21 以下是耶和华对他的判语，
“‘锡安的居民藐视你，嘲笑你；
耶路撒冷的居民朝你逃窜的背影摇头。
22 你在侮辱、亵渎谁呢？
你不放在眼里、
高声骂的是谁呢？
是以色列的圣者！
23 你借你的使者辱骂主，
你说你率领许多战车上到群山之巅，
上到黎巴嫩的巅峰，
砍下最高的香柏树和上好的松树，
征服最高的山和最美的树林。
24 你自夸已在外邦之地挖井取水，
已用脚掌踏干埃及的河流。
25 “‘难道你不知道这是我在太初所定、
在亘古就筹划好的吗？
如今我实现了所定的计划——
借着你使坚城沦为废墟。
26 城中的居民软弱无力，
惊慌失措，羞愧难当，
脆弱如野草和菜蔬，
又像还未长大就被晒焦的房顶草。
27 “‘你起你坐，你出你进，
你向我发怒，我都知道。
28 因为你向我发怒，
你狂傲的话达到了我耳中，
我要用钩子钩住你的鼻子，
把嚼环放在你嘴里，
使你原路返回。’
29 “希西迦啊，我要赐给你们一个兆头，你们今年要吃野生的，明年也要吃自然生长的，后年要播种收割，栽种葡萄园，吃园中的果子。 30 犹大的幸存者要再次向下扎根，向上结果。 31 因为将有余民从耶路撒冷出来，有幸存者从锡安山出来。耶和华必热切地成就这事。
32 “至于亚述王，耶和华说，‘他必不能进这城或向这里射一箭，必不能手持盾牌兵临城下或修筑攻城的高台。 33 他从哪条路来，也将从哪条路回去，他必进不了这城。这是耶和华说的。 34 我必为自己和我仆人大卫而保护、拯救这城。’”
35 当晚，耶和华的天使到亚述营中杀了十八万五千人。人们清早起来，发现到处是尸体。 36 亚述王西拿基立便拔营回国，住在尼尼微。 37 一天，亚述王在他的神明尼斯洛的庙里祭拜时，他的两个儿子亚得米勒和沙利色用刀杀了他，逃往亚拉腊。他的另一个儿子以撒哈顿继位。
希西迦的病危与康复
20 那些天，希西迦病危，亚摩斯的儿子以赛亚先知前来对他说：“耶和华说，‘你要交待后事，因为你要死了，你的病不能康复。’” 2 希西迦把脸转向墙，向耶和华祷告，说： 3 “耶和华啊，求你顾念我怎样全心、忠诚地事奉你，做你视为善的事。”希西迦痛哭起来。 4 当时，以赛亚还没有走出中院，耶和华对他说： 5 “回去告诉我子民的首领希西迦，‘你祖先大卫的上帝耶和华说，我已听见你的祷告，看见了你的眼泪。我要医治你，三天后你就可以上耶和华的殿。 6 我要使你的寿命增加十五年，我要从亚述王手中拯救你和这城。为我自己和我仆人大卫的缘故，我要保护这城。’”
7 以赛亚说：“拿一块无花果饼贴在王的疮上，他就会痊愈。”
8 希西迦问以赛亚：“有什么兆头证明耶和华要医治我，三天后我可以上耶和华的殿呢？” 9 以赛亚说：“耶和华要给你一个兆头，证明祂言出必行。你要日影前进十度还是后退十度呢？” 10 希西迦说：“日影前进十度容易，让日影后退十度吧。” 11 以赛亚先知向耶和华祈求，耶和华就使亚哈斯日晷上的日影后退了十度。
巴比伦的使者来访
12 那时，巴拉但的儿子巴比伦王米罗达·巴拉但听说希西迦病了，便派人送去书信和礼物。 13 希西迦接见使者，让他们观看国库里的金银、香料、珍贵膏油、所有兵器和一切宝物。希西迦把宫中及国内的一切都给他们看。
14 以赛亚先知来见希西迦王，问他：“这些人说了些什么？他们从哪里来？”希西迦答道：“他们来自遥远的巴比伦。” 15 以赛亚问：“他们在你宫里看到了什么？”希西迦答道：“他们看到了我宫中的一切。我把国库里的一切都给他们看了。”
16 以赛亚对希西迦说：“你听着，耶和华说， 17 ‘终有一天，你宫中的一切和你祖先积攒到现在的一切，必一件不留地被掳到巴比伦。这是耶和华说的。 18 你的子孙当中必有人被掳去，在巴比伦王的宫中做太监。’” 19 希西迦对以赛亚说：“耶和华借你说的话很好。”因为他想：“至少我有生之年将平安稳妥。”
20 希西迦其他的事迹和成就，包括怎样建造水池和挖沟引水入城，都记在犹大的列王史上。 21 希西迦与祖先同眠后，他儿子玛拿西继位。
Footnotes
- 19:7 “惊动”希伯来文是“使灵进入”。
2 Kings 19-20
The Message
19 1-3 When Hezekiah heard it all, he too ripped his robes apart and dressed himself in rough burlap. Then he went into The Temple of God. He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them dressed in rough burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They said to him, “A message from Hezekiah: ‘This is a black day, a terrible day—doomsday!
Babies poised to be born,
No strength to birth them.
4 “‘Maybe God, your God, has been listening to the blasphemous speech of the Rabshakeh who was sent by the king of Assyria, his master, to humiliate the living God; maybe God, your God, won’t let him get by with such talk; and you, maybe you will lift up prayers for what’s left of these people.’”
5 That’s the message King Hezekiah’s servants delivered to Isaiah.
6-7 Isaiah answered them, “Tell your master, ‘God’s word: Don’t be at all concerned about what you’ve heard from the king of Assyria’s bootlicking errand boys—these outrageous blasphemies. Here’s what I’m going to do: Afflict him with self-doubt. He’s going to hear a rumor and, frightened for his life, retreat to his own country. Once there, I’ll see to it that he gets killed.’”
8-13 The Rabshakeh left and found that the king of Assyria had pulled up stakes from Lachish and was now fighting against Libnah. Then Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Cush was on his way to fight against him. So he sent another envoy with orders to deliver this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: “Don’t let that god that you think so much of keep stringing you along with the line, ‘Jerusalem will never fall to the king of Assyria.’ That’s a barefaced lie. You know the track record of the kings of Assyria—country after country laid waste, devastated. And what makes you think you’ll be an exception? Take a good look at these wasted nations, destroyed by my ancestors; did their gods do them any good? Look at Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, the people of Eden at Tel Assar. Ruins. And what’s left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of Sepharvaim, of Hena, of Ivvah? Bones.”
14-15 Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of God and spread it out before God. And Hezekiah prayed—oh, how he prayed!
God, God of Israel, seated
in majesty on the cherubim-throne.
You are the one and only God,
sovereign over all kingdoms on earth,
Maker of heaven,
maker of earth.
16 Open your ears, God, and listen,
open your eyes and look.
Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent,
a brazen insult to the living God!
17 The facts are true, O God: The kings of Assyria
have laid waste countries and kingdoms.
18 Huge bonfires they made of their gods, their
no-gods hand-made from wood and stone.
19 But now O God, our God,
save us from raw Assyrian power;
Make all the kingdoms on earth know
that you are God, the one and only God.
20-21 It wasn’t long before Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah:
God’s word: You’ve prayed to me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria; I’ve heard your prayer. This is my response to him:
The Virgin Daughter of Zion
holds you in utter contempt;
Daughter Jerusalem
thinks you’re nothing but scum.
22 Who do you think it is you’ve insulted?
Who do you think you’ve been bad-mouthing?
Before whom do you suppose you’ve been strutting?
The Holy One of Israel, that’s who!
23 You dispatched your errand boys
to humiliate the Master.
You bragged, “With my army of chariots
I’ve climbed the highest mountains,
snow-peaked alpine Lebanon mountains!
I’ve cut down its giant cedars,
chopped down its prize pine trees.
I’ve traveled the world,
visited the finest forest retreats.
24 I’ve dug wells in faraway places
and drunk their exotic waters;
I’ve waded and splashed barefoot
in the rivers of Egypt.”
25 Did it never occur to you
that I’m behind all this?
Long, long ago I drew up the plans,
and now I’ve gone into action,
Using you as a doomsday weapon,
reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,
26 Leaving their people dispirited,
slumped shoulders, limp souls.
Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,
insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.
27 I know when you sit down, when you come
and when you go;
And, yes, I’ve marked every one
of your temper tantrums against me.
28 It’s because of your temper,
your blasphemous foul temper,
That I’m putting my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth
And turning you back
to where you came from.
29 And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:
This year you’ll eat the gleanings, next year
whatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;
But the third year you’ll sow and harvest,
plant vineyards and eat grapes.
30 A remnant of the family of Judah yet again
will sink down roots and raise up fruit.
31 The remnant will come from Jerusalem,
the survivors from Mount Zion.
The Zeal of God
will make it happen.
32 To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:
He won’t enter this city,
nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;
Won’t brandish a shield,
won’t even begin to set siege;
33 He’ll go home by the same road he came;
he won’t enter this city. God’s word!
34 I’ll shield this city, I’ll save this city,
for my sake and for David’s sake.
35 And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses!
36-37 Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king.
20 Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz paid him a visit and said, “Put your affairs in order; you’re about to die—you haven’t long to live.”
2-3 Hezekiah turned from Isaiah and faced God, praying:
Remember, O God, who I am, what I’ve done!
I’ve lived an honest life before you,
My heart’s been true and steady,
I’ve lived to please you; lived for your approval.
And then the tears flowed. Hezekiah wept.
4-6 Isaiah, leaving, was not halfway across the courtyard when the word of God stopped him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, prince of my people, ‘God’s word, Hezekiah! From the God of your ancestor David: I’ve listened to your prayer and I’ve observed your tears. I’m going to heal you. In three days you will walk on your own legs into The Temple of God. I’ve just added fifteen years to your life; I’m saving you from the king of Assyria, and I’m covering this city with my shield—for my sake and my servant David’s sake.’”
7 Isaiah then said, “Prepare a plaster of figs.”
They prepared the plaster, applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah was on his way to recovery.
8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “How do I know whether this is of God and not just the fig plaster? What confirming sign is there that God is healing me and that in three days I’ll walk into The Temple of God on my own legs?”
9 “This will be your sign from God,” said Isaiah, “that God is doing what he said he’d do: Do you want the shadow to advance ten degrees on the sundial or go back ten degrees? You choose.”
10 Hezekiah said, “It would be easy to make the sun’s shadow advance ten degrees. Make it go back ten degrees.”
11 So Isaiah called out in prayer to God, and the shadow went back ten degrees on Ahaz’s sundial.
12-13 Shortly after this, Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, having heard that the king was sick, sent a get-well card and a gift to Hezekiah. Hezekiah was pleased and showed the messengers around the place—silver, gold, spices, aromatic oils, his stockpile of weapons—a guided tour of all his prized possessions. There wasn’t a thing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah didn’t show them.
14 And then Isaiah the prophet showed up: “And just what were these men doing here? Where did they come from and why?”
Hezekiah said, “They came from far away—from Babylon.”
15 “And what did they see in your palace?”
“Everything,” said Hezekiah. “There isn’t anything I didn’t show them—I gave them the grand tour.”
16-18 Then Isaiah spoke to Hezekiah, “Listen to what God has to say about this: The day is coming when everything you own and everything your ancestors have passed down to you, right down to the last cup and saucer, will be cleaned out of here—plundered and packed off to Babylon. God’s word! Worse yet, your sons, the progeny of sons you’ve begotten, will end up as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “If God says it, it must be good.” But he was thinking to himself, “It won’t happen during my lifetime—I’ll enjoy peace and security as long as I live.”
20-21 The rest of the life and times of Hezekiah, along with his projects, especially the way he engineered the Upper Pool and brought water into the city, are written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Hezekiah died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Manasseh became the next king.
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson