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2 Chronicles 32:9-19
New English Translation

9 Afterward King Sennacherib of Assyria, while attacking Lachish with all his military might, sent his messengers[a] to Jerusalem. The message was for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of[b] Judah who were in Jerusalem. It read: 10 “This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘Why are you so confident that you remain in Jerusalem while it is under siege?[c] 11 Hezekiah says, “The Lord our God will rescue us from the power[d] of the king of Assyria.” But he is misleading you, and you will die of hunger and thirst![e] 12 Hezekiah is the one who eliminated[f] the Lord’s[g] high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.” 13 Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors[h] have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power?[i] 14 Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power, that your God would be able to rescue you from my power?[j] 15 Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how[k] can your gods rescue[l] you from my power?’”

16 Sennacherib’s[m] servants further insulted[n] the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah. 17 He wrote letters mocking the Lord God of Israel and insulting him with these words:[o] “The gods of the surrounding nations could not rescue their people from my power. Neither can Hezekiah’s god rescue his people from my power.”[p] 18 They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city. 19 They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 32:9 tn Heb “servants.”
  2. 2 Chronicles 32:9 tn Heb “all Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.
  3. 2 Chronicles 32:10 tn Heb “On what are you trusting that [you] are living during the siege in Jerusalem.”
  4. 2 Chronicles 32:11 tn Heb “hand.”
  5. 2 Chronicles 32:11 tn Heb “Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to die by hunger and thirst, saying, ‘The Lord our God will rescue us from the hand of the king of Assyria’?’
  6. 2 Chronicles 32:12 tn Heb “Did not he, Hezekiah, eliminate…?” This rhetorical question presupposes a positive reply (“yes, he did”) and so has been translated here as a positive statement.
  7. 2 Chronicles 32:12 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  8. 2 Chronicles 32:13 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 14, 15), but in this context the term does not necessarily refer to Sennacherib’s ancestors, but to his predecessors on the Assyrian throne.
  9. 2 Chronicles 32:13 tn Heb “hand.”
  10. 2 Chronicles 32:14 tn Heb “hand.”
  11. 2 Chronicles 32:15 tn Heb “how much less.”
  12. 2 Chronicles 32:15 tn The verb is plural, suggesting that the preceding אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (ʾelohekhem) be translated “your gods,” rather than “your God.”
  13. 2 Chronicles 32:16 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Sennacherib) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
  14. 2 Chronicles 32:16 tn Heb “spoke against.”
  15. 2 Chronicles 32:17 tn Heb “and speaking against him, saying.”
  16. 2 Chronicles 32:17 tn Heb “Like the gods of the nations of the lands who did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.”
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