Sennacherib Invades Judah

36 ^(A)Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^(B)Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. ² And the ^(C)king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the ^(D)conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the ^[a]fuller’s field. ³ Then ^(E)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(F)Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

⁴ Then ^(G)Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you ^[b]have? ⁵ I say, ‘Your counsel and strength for the war are only ^[c]empty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that ^(H)you have rebelled against me? ⁶ Behold, you rely on the ^(I)staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his ^[d]hand and pierce it. ^(J)So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ⁷ But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He ^(K)whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? ⁸ Now therefore, ^[e]come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ⁹ How then can you ^[f]repulse one ^[g]official of the least of my master’s servants and ^[h](L)rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰ Have I now come up ^[i]without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? ^(M)The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

¹¹ Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in ^(N)Aramaic, for we ^[j]understand it; and do not speak with us in ^[k](O)Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ¹² But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

¹³ Then Rabshakeh stood and ^(P)cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴ Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah ^(Q)deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; ¹⁵ nor let Hezekiah make you ^(R)trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶ Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘^[l]Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his ^(S)vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the ^(T)waters of his own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “^(U)The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of ^(V)Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of ^(W)Sepharvaim? And when have they ^(X)delivered Samaria from my hand? ²⁰ Who among all the ^(Y)gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the ^(Z)Lord would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

²¹ But they were silent and ^(AA)answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” ²² Then ^(AB)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(AC)Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

37 And ^(AD)when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent ^(AE)Eliakim who was over the household with ^(AF)Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to ^(AG)Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a ^(AH)day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for ^(AI)children have come to birth, and there is no strength to ^[m]deliver. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to ^(AJ)reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^(AK)the remnant that is left.’”

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^(AL)Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will ^(AM)hear a rumor and ^(AN)return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

⁸ Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(AO)Libnah, for he had heard that ^[n]the king had left ^(AP)Lachish. ⁹ When he ^(AQ)heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of ^[o](AR)Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^[p]Judah, ‘^(AS)Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ^11 (AT)Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be ^[q]spared? ¹² Did the gods of ^[r]those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even ^(AU)Gozan and ^(AV)Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the ^[s]letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and ^[t]spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(AW)who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the ^(AX)God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. ^(AY)You have made heaven and earth. ^17 (AZ)Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and ^(BA)listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to ^(BB)reproach the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, the ^(BC)kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the ^(BD)work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have ^(BE)destroyed them. ²⁰ Now, O Lord our God, ^(BF)deliver us from his hand that ^(BG)all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, ^[u]are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

²¹ Then ^(BH)Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:

³⁰ “Then this shall be the sign for you: ^[aa]you will eat this year what ^(CE)grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹ The ^(CF)surviving ^(CG)remnant of the house of Judah will again ^(CH)take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For out of Jerusalem will go forth a ^(CI)remnant and out of Mount Zion ^[ab]survivors. The ^(CJ)zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”’

³³ “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a ^(CK)siege ramp against it. ^34 (CL)By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. ³⁵ ‘For I will ^(CM)defend this city to save it ^(CN)for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

³⁶ Then the ^(CO)angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when ^[ac]men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were ^[ad]dead. ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and ^[ae]returned home and lived at ^(CP)Nineveh. ³⁸ It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of ^(CQ)Ararat. And ^(CR)Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of Ascents.

Avoid Israel’s Mistakes

10 For ^(A)I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all ^(B)under the cloud and all ^(C)passed through the sea; ² and all were ^(D)baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³ and all ^(E)ate the same spiritual food; ⁴ and all ^(F)drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was ^[a]Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for ^(G)they were laid low in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things happened as ^(H)examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as ^(I)they also craved. ⁷ Do not be ^(J)idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “^(K)The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to ^(L)play.” ⁸ Nor let us act immorally, as ^(M)some of them ^[b]did, and ^(N)twenty-three thousand fell in one day. ⁹ Nor let us try the Lord, as ^(O)some of them ^[c]did, and were destroyed by the serpents. ¹⁰ Nor ^(P)grumble, as some of them ^[d]did, and ^(Q)were destroyed by the ^(R)destroyer. ¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an ^(S)example, and ^(T)they were written for our instruction, upon whom ^(U)the ends of the ages have come. ¹² Therefore let him who ^(V)thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and ^(W)God is faithful, who will not allow you to be ^(X)tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴ Therefore, my ^(Y)beloved, flee from ^(Z)idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. ¹⁶ Is not the ^(AA)cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the ^[e](AB)bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Since there is one ^[f]bread, we ^(AC)who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one ^[g]bread. ¹⁸ Look at ^[h]the nation ^(AD)Israel; are not those who ^(AE)eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or ^(AF)that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they ^(AG)sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. ^21 (AH)You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and ^(AI)the table of demons. ²² Or do we ^(AJ)provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not ^(AK)stronger than He, are we?

^23 (AL)All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things ^(AM)edify. ²⁴ Let no one ^(AN)seek his own good, but that of his ^[i]neighbor. ^25 (AO)Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience’ sake; ^26 (AP)for the earth is the Lord’s, and ^[j]all it contains. ²⁷ If ^(AQ)one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, ^(AR)eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake. ²⁸ But ^(AS)if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience’ sake; ²⁹ I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for ^(AT)why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience? ³⁰ If I partake with thankfulness, ^(AU)why am I slandered concerning that for which I ^(AV)give thanks?

³¹ Whether, then, you eat or drink or ^(AW)whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ^32 (AX)Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to ^(AY)the church of God; ³³ just as I also ^(AZ)please all men in all things, ^(BA)not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, ^(BB)so that they may be saved.