2 Kings 18:17-19:37

New International Version

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(A)^(B)

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^(C) his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^(D) on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸They called for the king; and Eliakim^(E) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^(F) the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence^(G) of yours? ²⁰You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹Look, I know you are depending on Egypt,^(H) that splintered reed of a staff,^(I) which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ²²But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

²³“‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! ²⁴How can you repulse one officer^(J) of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen^[a]? ²⁵Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?^(K) The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(L) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(M) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(N) and drink water from your own cistern,^(O) ³²until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(P) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³Has the god^(Q) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath^(R) and Arpad?^(S) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(T)

³⁶But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim^(U) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(V) and told him what the field commander had said.

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold^(W)

19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore^(X) his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ²He sent Eliakim^(Y) the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests,^(Z) all wearing sackcloth,^(AA) to the prophet Isaiah^(AB) son of Amoz. ³They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment^(AC) of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule^(AD) the living God, and that he will rebuke^(AE) him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant^(AF) that still survives.”

⁵When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid^(AG) of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^(AH) me. ⁷Listen! When he hears a certain report,^(AI) I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.^(AJ)’”

⁸When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,^(AK) he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.^(AL)

⁹Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,^[b] was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend^(AM) on deceive^(AN) you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ ¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹²Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver^(AO) them—the gods of Gozan,^(AP) Harran,^(AQ) Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”^(AR)

Hezekiah’s Prayer^(AS)

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter^(AT) from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,^(AU) you alone^(AV) are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Give ear,^(AW) Lord, and hear;^(AX) open your eyes,^(AY) Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

¹⁷“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods^(AZ) but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.^(BA) ¹⁹Now, Lord our God, deliver^(BB) us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms^(BC) of the earth may know^(BD) that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall^(BE)^(BF)

²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard^(BG) your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken against^(BH) him:

“‘Virgin Daughter^(BI) Zion
    despises^(BJ) you and mocks^(BK) you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(BL) as you flee.
²²Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(BM)
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
    Against the Holy One^(BN) of Israel!
²³By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,^(BO)
    “With my many chariots^(BP)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down^(BQ) its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest parts,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁴I have dug wells in foreign lands
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

²⁵“‘Have you not heard?^(BR)
    Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned^(BS) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(BT)
²⁶Their people, drained of power,^(BU)
    are dismayed^(BV) and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,^(BW)
like grass sprouting on the roof,
    scorched^(BX) before it grows up.

²⁷“‘But I know^(BY) where you are
    and when you come and go
    and how you rage against me.
²⁸Because you rage against me
    and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook^(BZ) in your nose
    and my bit^(CA) in your mouth,
and I will make you return^(CB)
    by the way you came.’

²⁹“This will be the sign^(CC) for you, Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,^(CD)
    and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
    plant vineyards^(CE) and eat their fruit.
³⁰Once more a remnant^(CF) of the kingdom of Judah
    will take root^(CG) below and bear fruit above.
³¹For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^(CH)
    and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.^(CI)

“The zeal^(CJ) of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

³²“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

“‘He will not enter this city
    or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
    or build a siege ramp against it.
³³By the way that he came he will return;^(CK)
    he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
³⁴I will defend^(CL) this city and save it,
    for my sake and for the sake of David^(CM) my servant.’”

³⁵That night the angel of the Lord^(CN) went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!^(CO) ³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew.^(CP) He returned to Nineveh^(CQ) and stayed there.

³⁷One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek^(CR) and Sharezer killed him with the sword,^(CS) and they escaped to the land of Ararat.^(CT) And Esarhaddon^(CU) his son succeeded him as king.