2Ki 19 | NASB1995 | STEP | And when King Hezekiah heard it , he tore his clothes , covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord .

‏ 2 Kings 19

Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

1 ^aAnd when King Hezekiah heard it, he ^btore his clothes, ^ccovered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. 2 Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, ^dcovered with sackcloth, to ^eIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 They 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. 4 ‘ ^fPerhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^gto reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for ^hthe 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, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the ⁱservants of the king of Assyria ^jhave blasphemed Me. 7 “Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that ^khe will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And ^lI will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

Sennacherib Defies God

8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^mLibnah, for he had heard that ^{▼▼ Lit he}the king had left ^oLachish. 9 When 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, 10 “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of ^{▼▼ Lit Judah, saying,}Judah, ‘Do not ^rlet your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, ^s“Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 ‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be ^{▼▼ Lit delivered}spared? 12 ‘ ^uDid the gods of ^{▼▼ Lit the}those nations which my fathers destroyed deliver them, even ^wGozan and ^xHaran and Rezeph and ^ythe sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 ‘ ^zWhere is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

14 Then ^aaHezekiah 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. 15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^adwho are ^{▼▼ Lit seated}enthroned above the cherubim, ^afYou are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 ^ag“Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^ahopen Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^aito reproach the living God. 17 “Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, ^ajfor they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 19 “Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand ^akthat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O ^alLord, are God.”

God’s Answer through Isaiah

20 Then 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, ^amI have heard you.’ 21 “This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: ‘She has despised you and mocked you,
^anThe virgin daughter of Zion;
She ^aohas shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
22 ‘Whom have you ^apreproached and ^aqblasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice,
And ^{▼▼ Lit on high}haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the ^asHoly One of Israel!
23 ‘ ^atThrough 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 ^awthickest forest.
24 “I dug wells and drank foreign waters,
And with the sole of my feet I ^{▼▼ So with some ancient versions; M.T. will dry up
,} ^aydried up
All the rivers of ^{▼▼ Lit the besieged place}Egypt.”

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

29 ‘Then this shall be ^bhthe 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. 30 ‘ ^bjThe surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 ‘For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and ^bkout of Mount Zion ^{▼▼ Lit those who escape}survivors. ^bmThe zeal of ^{▼▼ Some ancient mss read the Lord of hosts}the Lord will perform this.

32 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ^bo“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 siege ramp against it. 33 ^bp“By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares the Lord. 34 ‘ ^bqFor I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and ^brfor My servant David’s sake.’”

35 ^bsThen 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. 36 So ^bvSennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at ^bwNineveh. 37 It 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
,} ^byAdrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into ^bzthe land of Ararat. And ^caEsarhaddon his son became king in his place.