2 Kings 19:20-34
English Standard Version
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 (A)I have heard. 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“She despises you, she scorns you—
(B)the virgin daughter of Zion;
she (C)wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
22 “Whom have you (D)mocked and (E)reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against (F)the Holy One of Israel!
23 (G)By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, (H)‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of (I)Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest lodging place,
its most (J)fruitful forest.
24 I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams (K)of Egypt.’
25 “Have you not heard
that (L)I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what (M)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 (N)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
(O)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 (P)put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and (Q)I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.
29 “And this shall be (R)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 (S)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 (T)a band of survivors. (U)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 (V)cast up a siege mound against it. 33 (W)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 (X)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake (Y)and for the sake of my servant David.”
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2 Kings 19:20-34
New English Translation
20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I have heard your prayer[a] concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 This is what the Lord says about him:[b]
“‘“The virgin daughter Zion[c]
despises you, she makes fun of you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head after you.[d]
22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted,[e]
and looked so arrogantly?[f]
At the Holy One of Israel![g]
23 Through your messengers you taunted the Sovereign Master,[h]
‘With my many chariots[i]
I climbed up the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions,[j]
its thickest woods.
24 I dug wells and drank
water in foreign lands.[k]
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
25 [l] Certainly you must have heard![m]
Long ago I worked it out.
In ancient times I planned[n] it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins.[o]
26 Their residents are powerless,[p]
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field,
or green vegetation.[q]
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops[r]
when it is scorched by the east wind.[s]
27 I know where you live
and everything you do.[t]
28 Because you rage against me,
and the uproar you create has reached my ears,[u]
I will put my hook in your nose,[v]
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back the way
you came.”
29 [w] “‘This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth:[x] This year you will eat what grows wild,[y] and next year[z] what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.[aa] 30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.[ab]
31 “‘For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;
survivors will come out of Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[ac] will accomplish this.
32 So this is what the Lord has said about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here.[ad]
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,[ae]
nor will he build siege works against it.
33 He will go back the way he came.
He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.
34 “‘I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”[af]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Kings 19:20 tn Heb “what you have prayed to me.”
- 2 Kings 19:21 tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”
- 2 Kings 19:21 sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.
- 2 Kings 19:21 sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.
- 2 Kings 19:22 tn Heb “have you raised a voice.”
- 2 Kings 19:22 tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?”
- 2 Kings 19:22 sn This divine title pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.
- 2 Kings 19:23 tn The word is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay), “lord,” but some Hebrew mss have יְהוָה (yehvah), “Lord.”
- 2 Kings 19:23 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּרֶכֶב (berekhev), but this must be dittographic (note the following רִכְבִּי [rikhbi], “my chariots”). The marginal reading (Qere) בְּרֹב (berov), “with many,” is supported by many Hebrew mss and ancient versions, as well as the parallel passage in Isa 37:24.
- 2 Kings 19:23 tn Heb “the lodging place of its extremity.”
- 2 Kings 19:24 tn Heb “I dug and drank foreign waters.”
- 2 Kings 19:25 tn Having quoted the Assyrian king’s arrogant words in vv. 23-24, the Lord now speaks to the king.
- 2 Kings 19:25 tn Heb “Have you not heard?” The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s amazement that anyone might be ignorant of what he is about to say.
- 2 Kings 19:25 tn Heb “formed.”
- 2 Kings 19:25 tn Heb “and it is to cause to crash into heaps of ruins fortified cities.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb תְּהִי (tehi) is the implied plan, referred to in the preceding lines with third feminine singular pronominal suffixes.
- 2 Kings 19:26 tn Heb “short of hand.”
- 2 Kings 19:26 tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.
- 2 Kings 19:26 tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.
- 2 Kings 19:26 tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah), “standing grain,” to קָדִים (qadim), “east wind” (with the support of 1Q Isaa in Isa 37:27).
- 2 Kings 19:27 tc Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The MT also has here, “and how you have raged against me.” However, this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line).
- 2 Kings 19:28 tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (shaʾananekha), “your complacency,” is emended to שַׁאֲוַנְךְ (shaʾavanekha), “your uproar.” See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38.
- 2 Kings 19:28 sn The word picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.
- 2 Kings 19:29 tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 21-28) ends and the Lord again directly addresses Hezekiah and the people (see v. 20).
- 2 Kings 19:29 tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (ʾot), “sign,” is a future confirmation of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.
- 2 Kings 19:29 sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.
- 2 Kings 19:29 tn Heb “and in the second year.”
- 2 Kings 19:29 tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 29b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity. See IBHS 572 §34.4.c.
- 2 Kings 19:30 tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”
- 2 Kings 19:31 tn Traditionally “the Lord of hosts.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to protect and restore them. The Qere, along with many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions, has “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” rather than “the zeal of the Lord” (Kethib). The translation follows the Qere here.
- 2 Kings 19:32 tn Heb “there.”
- 2 Kings 19:32 tn Heb “[with] a shield.” By metonymy the “shield” stands for the soldier who carries it.
- 2 Kings 19:34 tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
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