2 Kings 18:17-37

17Then the king of Assyria sent aTartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the bconduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the
I.e. launderer’s
fuller’s field.
18When they called to the king, dEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and eShebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

19Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, fWhat is this confidence that you
Lit trust
have?
20You say (but they are
Lit a word of the lips
only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, ithat you have rebelled against me?
21Now behold, you
Lit rely for yourself
,
krely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his
Lit palm
hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
22But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and mwhose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23Now therefore,
Lit please exchange pledges
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.
24How then can you
Lit turn away the face of
repulse one
Or governor
official of the least of my master’s servants, and
Lit rely for yourself
rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25Have I now come up
Lit without the Lord
without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

26Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we
Lit hear
understand it; and do not speak with us in
I.e. Hebrew
,
uJudean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
27But Rabshakeh said to them, “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?”

28Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean,
Lit and spoke, saying,
saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
29Thus says the king, ‘ wDo not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from
Heb his
my hand;
30nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, 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,
Lit Make with me a blessing
Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat zeach of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern,
32until I come and take you away aato a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” 33abHas any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34acWhere are the gods of Hamath and adArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and
In 2 Kin 17:24, Avva
,
afIvvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
35Who among all the gods of the lands
Lit who have
have delivered their land from my hand, ahthat the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

36But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 37Then aiEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah ajwith their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

2 Kings 19

Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

1 akAnd when King Hezekiah heard it, he altore his clothes, amcovered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. 2Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, ancovered with sackcloth, to aoIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver. 4apPerhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent aqto reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for arthe remnant that is left.’” 5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the asservants of the king of Assyria athave blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that auhe will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And avI will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

Sennacherib Defies God

8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against awLibnah, for he had heard that
Lit he
the king had left ayLachish.
9When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of
Or Ethiopia
Cush, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying,
10Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of
Lit Judah, saying,
Judah, ‘Do not bblet your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, bcJerusalem 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 the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be
Lit delivered
spared?
12beDid the gods of
Lit the
those nations which my fathers destroyed deliver them, even bgGozan and bhHaran and Rezeph and bithe sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
13bjWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

14Then bkHezekiah took the
Lit letters...read them
letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and
Lit Hezekiah spread
spread it out before the Lord.
15Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, bnwho are
Lit seated
enthroned above the cherubim, bpYou are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
16 bqIncline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; bropen Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent bsto reproach the living God. 17Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands 18and have cast their gods into the fire, btfor they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 19Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand buthat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O bvLord, are God.”

God’s Answer through Isaiah

20Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, bwI have heard you.’ 21This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: She has despised you and mocked you,
bxThe virgin daughter of Zion;
She byhas shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
22Whom have you bzreproached and cablasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice,
And
Lit on high
haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the ccHoly One of Israel!
23cdThrough your messengers you have reproached the Lord,
And you have said, “With my many chariots
I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I
So with some ancient versions; M.T. will cut...will enter
cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.
And I
So with some ancient versions; M.T. will cut...will enter
entered its farthest lodging place, its cgthickest forest.
24I dug wells and drank foreign waters,
And with the sole of my feet I
So with some ancient versions; M.T. will dry up
,
cidried up
All the rivers of
Lit the besieged place
Egypt.”

25ckHave you not heard?
Long ago I did it;
From ancient times I planned it.
clNow I have brought it to pass,
That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
26Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were cmas the vegetation of the field and as the green herb,
As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.
27‘But cnI know your sitting down,
And your going out and your coming in,
And your raging against Me.
28Because of your raging against Me,
And because your
Lit complacency
arrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I cpwill put My hook in your nose,
And My bridle in your lips,
And cqI will turn you back by the way which you came.

29Then this shall be crthe sign for you:
Lit eating
you will eat this year what 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.
30ctThe surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and cuout of Mount Zion
Lit those who escape
survivors. cwThe zeal of
Some ancient mss read the Lord of hosts
the Lord will perform this.

32Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, cyHe 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 siege ramp against it. 33 czBy the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares the Lord. 34daFor I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and dbfor My servant David’s sake.’”

35 dcThen it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when
Lit they
men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were
Lit dead bodies
dead.
36So dfSennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at dgNineveh. 37It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that
Some ancient mss read Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him
,
diAdrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into djthe land of Ararat. And dkEsarhaddon his son became king in his place.

2 Kings 20:1-11

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

1 dlIn those days Hezekiah became
Lit sick to the point of death
mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘ dnSet your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”
2Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 doRemember now, O Lord, I beseech You, dphow I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight.” And dqHezekiah wept
Lit great weeping
bitterly.
4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5Return and say to dsHezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, dtI have heard your prayer, duI have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6I will add fifteen years to your
Lit days
life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and dwI will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”’”
7Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

8Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?” 9Isaiah said, dxThis shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” 10So Hezekiah
Lit said
answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.”
11Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and dzHe brought the shadow on the
Lit steps
stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the
Lit steps
stairway of Ahaz.
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