2 Chronicles 32:9-19
New American Standard Bible
Sennacherib Undermines Hezekiah
9 After this (A)Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem while he was [a]besieging Lachish with all his forces with him, against Hezekiah king of Judah and against all of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, 10 “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: ‘On what are you trusting that you are staying in Jerusalem under siege? 11 Is Hezekiah not misleading you to give yourselves over to die by hunger and by thirst, saying, “The Lord our God will save us from the [b]hand of the king of Assyria”? 12 (B)Is it not the same Hezekiah who removed His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and [c]Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall [d]burn incense”? 13 Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? (C)Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to save their land from my hand? 14 (D)Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed who could save his people from my hand, that your God would be able to save you from my hand? 15 Now then, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for (E)no god of any nation or kingdom was able to save his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God save you from my hand?’”
16 His servants spoke further against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah. 17 He also wrote letters to insult the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, “(F)As the gods of the nations of the lands [e]have not saved their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not save His people from my hand.” 18 (G)They called this out with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city. 19 They spoke [f]of the God of Jerusalem as they did against (H)the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of human hands.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Chronicles 32:9 Lit against
- 2 Chronicles 32:11 Lit palm
- 2 Chronicles 32:12 Lit Jerusalem, saying,
- 2 Chronicles 32:12 Lit offer up in smoke
- 2 Chronicles 32:17 Lit who have
- 2 Chronicles 32:19 Lit to
2 Chronicles 32:9-19
New Living Translation
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
9 While King Sennacherib of Assyria was still besieging the town of Lachish, he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah and all the people in the city:
10 “This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you think you can survive my siege of Jerusalem? 11 Hezekiah has said, ‘The Lord our God will rescue us from the king of Assyria.’ Surely Hezekiah is misleading you, sentencing you to death by famine and thirst! 12 Don’t you realize that Hezekiah is the very person who destroyed all the Lord’s shrines and altars? He commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the altar at the Temple and to offer sacrifices on it alone.
13 “Surely you must realize what I and the other kings of Assyria before me have done to all the people of the earth! Were any of the gods of those nations able to rescue their people from my power? 14 Which of their gods was able to rescue its people from the destructive power of my predecessors? What makes you think your God can rescue you from me? 15 Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you! Don’t let him fool you like this! I say it again—no god of any nation or kingdom has ever yet been able to rescue his people from me or my ancestors. How much less will your God rescue you from my power!”
16 And Sennacherib’s officers further mocked the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah, heaping insult upon insult. 17 The king also sent letters scorning the Lord, the God of Israel. He wrote, “Just as the gods of all the other nations failed to rescue their people from my power, so the God of Hezekiah will also fail.” 18 The Assyrian officials who brought the letters shouted this in Hebrew[a] to the people gathered on the walls of the city, trying to terrify them so it would be easier to capture the city. 19 These officers talked about the God of Jerusalem as though he were one of the pagan gods, made by human hands.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 32:18 Hebrew in the dialect of Judah.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
