Micah 3-7

English Standard Version

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

3 And I said:
^(A)Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
^(B)Is it not for you to know justice?—
²    you ^(C)who hate the good and love the evil,
^(D)who tear the skin from off my people^[a]
    and their flesh from off their bones,
³^(E)who eat the flesh of my people,
    and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
    and chop them up like meat in a pot,
    like flesh in a cauldron.

⁴^(F)Then they will cry to the Lord,
but he will not answer them;
^(G)he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.

⁵Thus says the Lord concerning ^(H)the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
^(I)who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
    who puts nothing into their mouths.
⁶Therefore ^(J)it shall be night to you, without vision,
    and darkness to you, without divination.
^(K)The sun shall go down on the prophets,
    and the day shall be black over them;
⁷^(L)the seers shall be disgraced,
    and the diviners put to shame;
^(M)they shall all cover their lips,
    for ^(N)there is no answer from God.
⁸But as for me, ^(O)I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob ^(P)his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.

⁹^(Q)Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
^(R)who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
¹⁰^(S)who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
¹¹^(T)Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    ^(U)its priests teach for a price;
    ^(V)its prophets practice divination for money;
^(W)yet they lean on the Lord and ^(X)say,
    “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
    ^(Y)No disaster shall come upon us.”
¹²Therefore because of you
    ^(Z)Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem ^(AA)shall become a heap of ruins,
    and ^(AB)the mountain of the house ^(AC)a wooded height.

The Mountain of the Lord

4 It shall come to pass ^(AD)in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
²    and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,^[b]
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall ^(AE)beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore;
⁴^(AF)but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
    ^(AG)and no one shall make them afraid,
    ^(AH)for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
⁵For ^(AI)all the peoples walk
    each in the name of its god,
but ^(AJ)we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

The Lord Shall Rescue Zion

⁶^(AK)In that day, declares the Lord,
    ^(AL)I will assemble the ^(AM)lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;
⁷and the lame I will make ^(AN)the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and ^(AO)the Lord will reign over them ^(AP)in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.

⁸And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹Now why do you cry aloud?
    ^(AQ)Is there no king in you?
^(AR)Has your counselor perished,
    that ^(AS)pain seized you like a woman in labor?
¹⁰^(AT)Writhe and groan,^[c] O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for ^(AU)now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you ^(AV)shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    ^(AW)there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹Now ^(AX)many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
    and ^(AY)let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
¹²But ^(AZ)they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
    that ^(BA)he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
    and I will make your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
    and ^(BB)shall devote^[d] ^(BC)their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to ^(BD)the Lord of the whole earth.

The Ruler to Be Born in Bethlehem

5 ^[e] Now muster your troops, O daughter^[f] of troops;
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod ^(BE)they strike the judge of Israel
    on the cheek.
²^[g] ^(BF)But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of ^(BG)Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ^(BH)ruler in Israel,
^(BI)whose coming forth is ^(BJ)from of old,
    from ancient days.
³Therefore he shall give them up ^(BK)until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then ^(BL)the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴And he shall stand ^(BM)and shepherd his flock ^(BN)in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now ^(BO)he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
⁵And he shall be ^(BP)their peace.

^(BQ)When the Assyrian comes into our land
    and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven ^(BR)shepherds
    and eight princes of men;
⁶they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
    and the land of ^(BS)Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
    ^(BT)when he comes into our land
    and treads within our border.

A Remnant Shall Be Delivered

⁷Then ^(BU)the remnant of Jacob shall be
    in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
    like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
    nor wait for the children of man.
⁸And ^(BV)the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
    in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
    like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
^(BW)which, when it goes through, treads down
    and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
⁹Your hand shall ^(BX)be lifted up over your adversaries,
    and all your enemies shall be cut off.

¹⁰And ^(BY)in that day, declares the Lord,
    ^(BZ)I will cut off your horses from among you
    and will destroy your chariots;
¹¹^(CA)and I will cut off the cities of your land
    and throw down all your strongholds;
¹²and I will cut off ^(CB)sorceries from your hand,
    and ^(CC)you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
¹³and ^(CD)I will cut off your carved images
    and ^(CE)your pillars from among you,
^(CF)and you shall bow down no more
    to the work of your hands;
¹⁴and I will root out your ^(CG)Asherah images from among you
    ^(CH)and destroy your cities.
¹⁵And in anger and wrath ^(CI)I will execute vengeance
    on the nations that did not obey.

The Indictment of the Lord

6 ^(CJ)Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
²^(CK)Hear, you mountains, ^(CL)the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

³“O my people, ^(CM)what have I done to you?
    ^(CN)How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴For ^(CO)I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and ^(CP)redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and ^(CQ)Miriam.
⁵O my people, remember ^(CR)what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from ^(CS)Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know ^(CT)the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What Does the Lord Require?

⁶^(CU)“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before ^(CV)God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷^(CW)Will the Lord be pleased with^[h] thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
^(CX)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and ^(CY)what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[i]
    and to ^(CZ)walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

⁹The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear ^(DA)your name:
“Hear of ^(DB)the rod and of him who appointed it!^[j]
¹⁰    Can I forget any longer the treasures^[k] of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
¹¹Shall I acquit the man ^(DC)with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
¹²Your^[l] rich men are ^(DD)full of violence;
    your inhabitants ^(DE)speak lies,
    and ^(DF)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
¹³Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    ^(DG)making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(DH)You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
¹⁵^(DI)You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For you have kept the statutes of ^(DJ)Omri,^[m]
    and all the works of the house of ^(DK)Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you ^(DL)a desolation, and your^[n] inhabitants ^(DM)a hissing;
    so you shall bear ^(DN)the scorn of my people.”

Wait for the God of Salvation

7 Woe is me! For I have become
    ^(DO)as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
    as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
    no ^(DP)first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
²^(DQ)The godly has perished from the earth,
    and ^(DR)there is no one upright among mankind;
^(DS)they all lie in wait for blood,
    and ^(DT)each hunts the other with a net.
³^(DU)Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
    ^(DV)the prince and ^(DW)the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
    thus they weave it together.
⁴The best of them is ^(DX)like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of ^(DY)your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    ^(DZ)now their confusion is at hand.
⁵^(EA)Put no trust in a neighbor;
    have no confidence in a friend;
guard ^(EB)the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your arms;^[o]
⁶for ^(EC)the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    ^(ED)a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
    ^(EE)I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.

⁸^(EF)Rejoice not over me, O ^(EG)my enemy;
    ^(EH)when I fall, I shall rise;
^(EI)when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(EJ)I will bear the indignation of the Lord
    because I have sinned against him,
until ^(EK)he pleads my cause
    and executes judgment for me.
^(EL)He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall look upon his vindication.
¹⁰Then ^(EM)my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who ^(EN)said to me,
    “Where is the Lord your God?”
^(EO)My eyes will look upon her;
    now she will be trampled down
    ^(EP)like the mire of the streets.

¹¹^(EQ)A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹²In that day they^[p] will come to you,
    ^(ER)from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to ^(ES)the River,^[q]
    ^(ET)from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³But ^(EU)the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴^(EV)Shepherd your people ^(EW)with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
    ^(EX)in the midst of ^(EY)a garden land;^[r]
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
¹⁵^(EZ)As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    I will show them^[s] marvelous things.
¹⁶^(FA)The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(FB)they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷^(FC)they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
^(FD)they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
    ^(FE)they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
    and they shall be in fear of you.

God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

¹⁸^(FF)Who is a God like you, ^(FG)pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    ^(FH)for the remnant of his inheritance?
^(FI)He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹He will ^(FJ)again have compassion on us;
    ^(FK)he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
^(FL)You will cast all our^[t] sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(FM)You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
^(FN)as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.

Footnotes

Micah 3:2 Hebrew from off them
Micah 4:2 Or teaching
Micah 4:10 Or push
Micah 4:13 Hebrew devote to destruction
Micah 5:1 Ch 4:14 in Hebrew
Micah 5:1 That is, city
Micah 5:2 Ch 5:1 in Hebrew
Micah 6:7 Or Will the Lord accept
Micah 6:8 Or steadfast love
Micah 6:9 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Micah 6:10 Or Are there still treasures
Micah 6:12 Hebrew whose
Micah 6:16 Hebrew For the statutes of Omri are kept
Micah 6:16 Hebrew its
Micah 7:5 Hebrew bosom
Micah 7:12 Hebrew he
Micah 7:12 That is, the Euphrates
Micah 7:14 Hebrew of Carmel
Micah 7:15 Hebrew him
Micah 7:19 Hebrew their

2 Kings 18-20

English Standard Version

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18 ^(A)In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(B)Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ²He was ^(C)twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(D)Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ³^(E)And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴^(F)He removed the high places and broke the ^(G)pillars and cut down ^(H)the Asherah. And he broke in pieces ^(I)the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).^[a] ⁵^(J)He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(K)so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. ⁶^(L)For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. ⁷^(M)And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, ^(N)he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. ⁸^(O)He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, ^(P)from watchtower to fortified city.

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(Q)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, ¹⁰and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in ^(R)Halah, and on the ^(S)Habor, ^(T)the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

¹³^(U)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” ^(V)And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[b] of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekiah ^(W)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷And the king of Assyria sent the ^(X)Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by ^(Y)the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. ¹⁸And when they called for the king, there came out to them ^(Z)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(AA)Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ²⁰Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of ^(AB)a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²²But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^(AC)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? ²³Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ²⁴How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

²⁶Then ^(AD)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and ^(AE)Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(AF)Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ²⁷But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

²⁸Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my^[c] hand. ³⁰Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ ³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me^[d] and come out to me. Then ^(AG)each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(AH)a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and ^(AI)honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” ³³^(AJ)Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴^(AK)Where are the gods of ^(AL)Hamath and ^(AM)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^(AN)Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, ^(AO)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

³⁶But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷Then ^(AP)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ^(AQ)with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19 ^(AR)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, ^(AS)he tore his clothes and ^(AT)covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, ^(AU)covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴^(AV)It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^(AW)to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(AX)the remnant that is left.” ⁵When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which ^(AY)the servants of the king of Assyria have ^(AZ)reviled me. ⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(BA)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him ^(BB)fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

⁸The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(BC)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left ^(BD)Lachish. ⁹^(BE)Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God ^(BF)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that ^(BG)Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ¹²^(BH)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(BI)Gozan, ^(BJ)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of ^(BK)Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³^(BL)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

¹⁴Hezekiah received ^(BM)the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(BN)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(BO)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶^(BP)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(BQ)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(BR)to mock the living God. ¹⁷Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(BS)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(BT)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(BU)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

²⁰Then 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 ^(BV)I have heard. ²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

“She despises you, she scorns you—
^(BW)the virgin daughter of Zion;
she ^(BX)wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.

²²“Whom have you ^(BY)mocked and ^(BZ)reviled?
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
    Against ^(CA)the Holy One of Israel!
²³^(CB)By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
    and you have said, ^(CC)‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
    to the far recesses of ^(CD)Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
    its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest lodging place,
    its most ^(CE)fruitful forest.
²⁴I dug wells
    and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
    all the streams ^(CF)of Egypt.’

²⁵“Have you not heard
    that ^(CG)I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
    what ^(CH)now I bring to pass,
that you should turn fortified cities
    into heaps of ruins,
²⁶while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
    are dismayed and confounded,
and have become ^(CI)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
    ^(CJ)and your going out and coming in,
    and your raging against me.
²⁸Because you have raged against me
    and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will ^(CK)put my hook in your nose
    and my bit in your mouth,
and ^(CL)I will turn you back on the way
    by which you came.

²⁹“And this shall be ^(CM)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^(CN)And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion ^(CO)a band of survivors. ^(CP)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 ^(CQ)cast up a siege mound against it. ³³^(CR)By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. ³⁴^(CS)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake ^(CT)and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁵And that night ^(CU)the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at ^(CV)Nineveh. ³⁷And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(CW)Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20 ^(CX)In those days ^(CY)Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ^(CZ)‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³“Now, O Lord, ^(DA)please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and ^(DB)with a whole heart, ^(DC)and have done what is good in your sight.” ^(DD)And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵“Turn back, and say to Hezekiah ^(DE)the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(DF)I have heard your prayer; ^(DG)I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, ⁶and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, ^(DH)and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” ⁷And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” ⁹And Isaiah said, “This shall be ^(DI)the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow ^(DJ)to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, ^(DK)and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

¹²^(DL)At that time ^(DM)Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, ^(DN)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them ^(DO)all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” ¹⁵He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷Behold, the days are coming, when ^(DP)all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ¹⁸^(DQ)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, ^(DR)and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ^(DS)“The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

²⁰^(DT)The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made ^(DU)the pool and the conduit ^(DV)and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²¹^(DW)And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes

2 Kings 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent
2 Kings 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
2 Kings 18:29 Hebrew his
2 Kings 18:31 Hebrew Make a blessing with me

Isaiah 36

English Standard Version

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36 ^(A)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^(B)Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ²^(C)And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh^[a] from ^(D)Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood ^(E)by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. ³And there came out to him ^(F)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(G)Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the ^(H)great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ⁵Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶^(I)Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ⁷But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^(J)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? ⁸Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ⁹How then can you repulse ^(K)a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when ^(L)you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? ^(M)The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants ^(N)in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ¹²But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

¹³Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴Thus says the king: ^(O)‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me^[b] and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ¹⁷until ^(P)I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹^(Q)Where are the gods of ^(R)Hamath and ^(S)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ^(T)Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰^(U)Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

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