Chronological
9 It was in the fourth year of King Hizkiyahu, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Isra’el, that Shalman’eser king of Ashur advanced against Shomron and laid siege to it. 10 At the end of three years they captured it — that is, Shomron was captured in the sixth year of Hizkiyahu, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Isra’el. 11 The king of Ashur carried Isra’el away captive to Ashur and settled them in Halach, in Havor on the Gozan River and in the cities of the Medes. 12 This happened because they did not heed the voice of Adonai their God, but violated his covenant, everything that Moshe the servant of Adonai had ordered them to do, and would neither hear it nor do it.
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hizkiyahu, Sancheriv king of Ashur advanced against all the fortified cities of Y’hudah and captured them. 14 Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah sent this message to the king of Ashur at Lakhish: “I have done wrong. If you will go away from me, I will pay whatever penalty you impose on me.” The king of Ashur imposed on Hizkiyahu a penalty of ten tons of silver and a ton of gold. 15 Hizkiyahu gave him all the silver that could be found in the house of Adonai and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16 It was at that time that Hizkiyahu stripped the gold from the doors of the sanctuary of Adonai and from the doorposts which Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah himself had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Ashur.
17 From Lakhish the king of Ashur sent Tartan, Rav-Saris and Rav-Shakeh to King Hizkiyahu in Yerushalayim with a large army. They advanced and came to Yerushalayim. Upon arrival, they came and positioned themselves by the aqueduct from the Upper Pool, which is by the road to the Launderers’ Field. 18 They summoned the king, but those answering the call were Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo’ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister. 19 Rav-Shakeh addressed them: “Tell Hizkiyahu: ‘Here is what the great king, the king of Ashur, says: “What makes you so confident? 20 Do you think that mere spoken words constitute strategy and strength for battle? In whom, then, are you trusting when you rebel against me like this? 21 Now look! Relying on Egypt is like using a broken stick as a staff — when you lean on it, it punctures your hand. That’s what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like for anyone who puts his trust in him. 22 But if you tell me, ‘We trust in Adonai our God,’ then isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hizkiyahu has removed, telling Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, ‘You must worship before this altar in Yerushalayim’? 23 All right, then, make a wager with my lord the king of Ashur: I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough riders for them. 24 How then can you repulse even one of my master’s lowest-ranked army officers? Yet you are relying on Egypt for chariots and riders! 25 Do you think I have come up to this place to destroy it without Adonai’s approval? Adonai said to me, ‘Attack this land, and destroy it’!”’”
26 Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu, Shevnah and Yo’ach said to Rav-Shakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it; don’t speak with us in Hebrew while the people on the wall are listening.” 27 But Rav-Shakeh answered them, “Did my master send me to deliver my message just to your master and yourselves? Didn’t he send me to address the men sitting on the wall, who, like you, are going to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” 28 Then Rav-Shakeh stood up and, speaking loudly in Hebrew, said: “Hear what the great king, the king of Ashur, says! 29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hizkiyahu deceive you, because he won’t be able to save you from the power of the king of Ashur. 30 And don’t let Hizkiyahu make you trust in Adonai by saying, “Adonai will surely save us; this city will not be given over to the king of Ashur.” 31 Don’t listen to Hizkiyahu.’ For this is what the king of Ashur says: ‘Make peace with me, surrender to me. Then every one of you can eat from his vine and fig tree and drink the water in his own cistern; 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land with grain and wine, a land with bread and vineyards, a land with olive trees and honey; so that you can live and not die. So don’t listen to Hizkiyahu; he is only deluding you when he says, “Adonai will save us.” 33 Has any god of any nation ever saved his land from the power of the king of Ashur? 34 Where are the gods of Hamat and Arpad? Where are the gods of S’farvayim, Hena and ‘Ivah? Did they save Shomron from my power? 35 Where is the god of any country that has saved its country from my power, so that Adonai might be able to save Yerushalayim from my power?’” 36 But the people kept still and didn’t answer him so much as a word; for the king’s order was, “Don’t answer him.”
37 Then Elyakim the son of Hilkiyah, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and Yo’ach the son of Asaf the foreign minister went to Hizkiyahu with their clothes torn and reported to him what Rav-Shakeh had said.
19 On hearing it, King Hizkiyahu tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Adonai. 2 He sent Elyakim, who was in charge of the household, Shevnah the general secretary and the leading cohanim, covered with sackcloth, to Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hizkiyahu says: ‘Today is a day of trouble, rebuke and disgrace. Children are ready to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth. 4 Maybe Adonai your God will hear all the words of Rav-Shakeh, whom his master the king of Ashur has sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke the message which Adonai your God has heard. So pray for the remnant that is left.”
5 When King Hizkiyahu’s servants came to Yesha‘yahu, 6 he said to them, “Tell your master that this is what Adonai says: ‘Don’t be afraid of the words you heard the servants of the king of Ashur use to insult me. 7 I will put a spirit in him that will make him hear a rumor and return to his own land; then I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land.’”
8 Rav-Shakeh returned and, having heard that the king of Ashur had left Lakhish, found him making war with Livnah. 9 Then, on hearing it said that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was on his way to fight him, the king of Ashur sent messengers to Hizkiyahu, telling them, 10 “This is what you are to say to Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Yerushalayim will not be handed over to the power of the king of Ashur.” 11 You have heard what the kings of Ashur have done to all lands — they have completely destroyed them. So how will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them? No, my ancestors destroyed them — Gozan, Haran, Retzef and the people of ‘Eden who were in Tel’asar. 13 Where is the king of Hamat? the king of Arpad? the king of the city of S’farvayim, of Hena and ‘Ivah?’”
14 Hizkiyahu took the letter from the messengers’ hands and read it. Then Hizkiyahu went up to the house of Adonai and spread it out before Adonai. 15 Hizkiyahu prayed as follows in the presence of Adonai: “Adonai God of Isra’el, who dwells above the k’ruvim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. 16 Turn your ear, Adonai, and hear! Open your eyes, Adonai, and see! Hear the words that Sancheriv sent to taunt the living God. 17 It is true, Adonai, that the kings of Ashur have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have thrown their gods into the fire. For those were non-gods, merely the product of people’s hands, wood and stone; this is why they could destroy them. 19 Now therefore, Adonai our God, please save us from his power — so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you are Adonai, God — you only.”
20 Then Yesha‘yahu the son of Amotz sent this message to Hizkiyahu: “Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘You prayed to me against Sancheriv king of Ashur, and I have heard you.’ 21 Here is Adonai’s answer concerning him:
‘The virgin daughter of Tziyon
despises you; she laughs you to scorn.
The daughter of Yerushalayim
shakes her head at you.
22 Whom have you taunted and insulted?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
The Holy One of Isra’el!
23 “‘Through your messengers you taunted Adonai.
You said, “With my many chariots
I have ascended the mountain heights
even in the far reaches of the L’vanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best cypresses.
I reached its remotest corners
and its best forests.
24 I dug [wells] in foreign lands,
and I drank the water.
The soles of my [soldiers’] feet
dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”
25 “‘Haven’t you heard? Long ago I made it;
in antiquity I produced it;
and now I am making it happen:
you are turning fortified cities
into heaps of ruins;
26 while their inhabitants, shorn of power,
are disheartened and ashamed,
weak as grass, frail as plants,
like grass on the rooftops
or grain scorched by the east wind.
27 “‘But I know when you sit, when you leave,
when you enter — and when you rage against me.
28 And because of your rage against me,
because of your pride that has reached my ears,
I am putting my hook in your nose
and my bridle on your lips;
and I will make you return
by the way on which you came.
29 “‘This will be the sign for you: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 “‘Meanwhile, the remnant
of the house of Y’hudah that has escaped
will again take root downward
and bear fruit upward;
31 for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim,
those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon.
The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot
will accomplish this.’
32 “Therefore this is what Adonai says concerning the king of Ashur:
‘He will not come to this city
or even shoot an arrow there;
he will not confront it with a shield
or erect earthworks against it.
33 By the way he came he will return;
he will not come to this city,’
says Adonai. 34 ‘For I will defend this city and save it, both for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’”
35 That night the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of Ashur. Early the next morning, there they were, all of them, corpses — dead. 36 So Sancheriv king of Ashur left, went and returned to live in Ninveh.
37 One day, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisrokh his god, [his sons] Adramelekh and Shar’etzer struck him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. So his son Esar-Hadon took his place as king.
46 (0) For the leader. By the descendants of Korach. On ‘alamot [high-pitched musical instruments?]. A song:
2 (1) God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
3 (2) Therefore we are unafraid,
even if the earth gives way,
even if the mountains tumble
into the depths of the sea,
4 (3) even if its waters rage and foam,
and mountains shake at its turbulence. (Selah)
5 (4) There is a river whose streams
gladden the city of God,
the holy habitation of ‘Elyon —
6 (5) God is in the city.
It will not be moved —
when daybreak comes, God will help it.
7 (6) Nations were in turmoil,
kingdoms were moved;
his voice thundered forth,
and the earth melted away.
8 (7) Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
9 (8) Come and see the works of Adonai,
the astounding deeds he has done on the earth.
10 (9) To the ends of the earth he makes wars cease —
he breaks the bow, snaps the spear,
burns the shields in the fire.
11 (10) “Desist, and learn that I am God,
supreme over the nations,
supreme over the earth.”
12 (11) Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
80 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” A testimony. A psalm of Asaf:
2 (1) Shepherd of Isra’el, listen!
You who lead Yosef like a flock,
you whose throne is on the k’ruvim,
shine out!
3 (2) Before Efrayim, Binyamin and M’nasheh,
rouse your power; and come to save us.
4 (3) God, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
5 (4) Adonai, God of armies, how long
will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
6 (5) You have fed them tears as their bread
and made them drink tears in abundance.
7 (6) You make our neighbors fight over us,
and our enemies mock us.
8 (7) God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
9 (8) You brought a vine out of Egypt,
you expelled the nations and planted it,
10 (9) you cleared a space for it;
then it took root firmly and filled the land.
11 (10) The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
12 (11) It put out branches as far as the sea
and shoots to the [Euphrates] River.
13 (12) Why did you break down [the vineyard’s] wall,
so that all passing by can pluck [its fruit]?
14 (13) The boar from the forest tears it apart;
wild creatures from the fields feed on it.
15 (14) God of armies, please come back!
Look from heaven, see, and tend this vine!
16 (15) Protect what your right hand planted,
the son you made strong for yourself.
17 (16) It is burned by fire, it is cut down;
they perish at your frown of rebuke.
18 (17) Help the man at your right hand,
the son of man you made strong for yourself.
19 (18) Then we won’t turn away from you —
if you revive us, we will call on your name.
20 (19) Adonai, God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
135 Halleluyah!
(1) Give praise to the name of Adonai!
Servants of Adonai, give praise!
2 You who stand in the house of Adonai,
in the courtyards of the house of our God,
3 praise Yah, for Adonai is good;
sing to his name, because it is pleasant.
4 For Yah chose Ya‘akov for himself,
Isra’el as his own unique treasure.
5 I know that Adonai is great,
that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Adonai does whatever pleases him,
in heaven, on earth, in the seas, in all the depths.
7 He raises clouds from the ends of the earth,
he makes the lightning flash in the rain
and brings the wind out from his storehouses.
8 He struck down Egypt’s firstborn,
humans and animals alike.
9 He sent signs and wonders among you, Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his subjects.
10 He struck many nations,
and slaughtered mighty kings —
11 Sichon king of the Emori,
‘Og king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Kena‘an.
12 Then he gave their land as a heritage,
to be possessed by Isra’el his people.
13 Adonai, your name continues forever,
your renown, Adonai, through all generations.
14 For Adonai will vindicate his people,
he will take pity on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are mere silver and gold,
made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but they can’t speak;
they have eyes, but they can’t see;
17 they have ears, but they can’t listen;
and they have no breath in their mouths;
18 The people who make them will become like them,
along with everyone who trusts in them.
19 House of Isra’el, bless Adonai!
House of Aharon, bless Adonai!
20 House of Levi, bless Adonai!
You who fear Adonai, bless Adonai!
21 Blessed be Adonai out of Tziyon,
he who dwells in Yerushalayim!
Halleluyah!
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.