2 Kings
19:1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his
clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of
the LORD.
19:2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the
scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah
the prophet the son of Amoz.
19:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of
trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the
birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
19:4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom
the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and
will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift
up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
19:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
19:6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith
the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
19:7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and
shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword
in his own land.
19:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against
Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
19:9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come
out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah,
saying,
19:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God
in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
19:11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all
lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
19:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have
destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden
which were in Thelasar?
19:13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the
city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
19:14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read
it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it
before the LORD.
19:15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel,
which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone,
of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
19:16 LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and
hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the
living God.
19:17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and
their lands,
19:18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the
work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
19:19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his
hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD
God, even thou only.
19:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against
Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
19:21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin
the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the
daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
19:22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou
exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the
Holy One of Israel.
19:23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast said, With the
multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to
the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof,
and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of
his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
19:24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet
have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
19:25 Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times
that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou
shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
19:26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and
confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb,
as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown
up.
19:27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage
against me.
19:28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears,
therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and
I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
19:29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things
as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of
the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards,
and eat the fruits thereof.
19:30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again
take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
19:31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out
of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
19:32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall
not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it
with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
19:33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come
into this city, saith the LORD.
19:34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my
servant David's sake.
19:35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and
smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five
thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were
all dead corpses.
19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and
dwelt at Nineveh.
19:37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his
god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword:
and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son
reigned in his stead.
