2 Kings 18:13-19:37

English Standard Version

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

^13 (A)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴ And 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.” ^(B)And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah ^(C)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house. ¹⁶ At 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. ¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent the ^(D)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 ^(E)the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. ¹⁸ And when they called for the king, there came out to them ^(F)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(G)Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹ And 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? ²⁰ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of ^(H)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. ²² But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^(I)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? ²³ Come 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. ²⁴ How 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? ²⁵ Moreover, 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.”’”

²⁶ Then ^(J)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and ^(K)Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in ^(L)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.” ²⁷ But 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?”

²⁸ Then 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! ²⁹ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my^[b] hand. ³⁰ Do 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.’ ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me^[c] and come out to me. Then ^(M)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, ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, ^(N)a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and ^(O)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 (P)Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ^34 (Q)Where are the gods of ^(R)Hamath and ^(S)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and ^(T)Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, ^(U)that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

³⁶ But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then ^(V)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 ^(W)with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19 ^(X)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, ^(Y)he tore his clothes and ^(Z)covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, ^(AA)covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³ They 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 (AB)It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent ^(AC)to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for ^(AD)the remnant that is left.” ⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah 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 ^(AE)the servants of the king of Assyria have ^(AF)reviled me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that ^(AG)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him ^(AH)fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against ^(AI)Libnah, for he heard that the king had left ^(AJ)Lachish. ^9 (AK)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 ^(AL)in whom you trust deceive you by promising that ^(AM)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 lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? ^12 (AN)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, ^(AO)Gozan, ^(AP)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of ^(AQ)Eden who were in Telassar? ^13 (AR)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

¹⁴ Hezekiah received ^(AS)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. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(AT)enthroned above the cherubim, ^(AU)you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ^16 (AV)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; ^(AW)open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent ^(AX)to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(AY)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(AZ)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(BA)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

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

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

³⁵ And that night ^(CA)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. ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at ^(CB)Nineveh. ³⁷ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, ^(CC)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.