2 Kings 19

New International Version

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold^(A)

19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore^(B) his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ²He sent Eliakim^(C) the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests,^(D) all wearing sackcloth,^(E) to the prophet Isaiah^(F) 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^(G) 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^(H) the living God, and that he will rebuke^(I) him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant^(J) 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^(K) of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^(L) me. ⁷Listen! When he hears a certain report,^(M) I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.^(N)’”

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

⁹Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,^[a] 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^(Q) on deceive^(R) 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^(S) them—the gods of Gozan,^(T) Harran,^(U) 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?”^(V)

Hezekiah’s Prayer^(W)

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter^(X) 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,^(Y) you alone^(Z) are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Give ear,^(AA) Lord, and hear;^(AB) open your eyes,^(AC) 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^(AD) but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.^(AE) ¹⁹Now, Lord our God, deliver^(AF) us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms^(AG) of the earth may know^(AH) that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall^(AI)^(AJ)

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

“‘Virgin Daughter^(AM) Zion
    despises^(AN) you and mocks^(AO) you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(AP) as you flee.
²²Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(AQ)
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
    Against the Holy One^(AR) of Israel!
²³By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,^(AS)
    “With my many chariots^(AT)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down^(AU) 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?^(AV)
    Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned^(AW) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(AX)
²⁶Their people, drained of power,^(AY)
    are dismayed^(AZ) and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,^(BA)
like grass sprouting on the roof,
    scorched^(BB) before it grows up.

²⁷“‘But I know^(BC) 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^(BD) in your nose
    and my bit^(BE) in your mouth,
and I will make you return^(BF)
    by the way you came.’

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

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

“The zeal^(BN) 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;^(BO)
    he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
³⁴I will defend^(BP) this city and save it,
    for my sake and for the sake of David^(BQ) my servant.’”

³⁵That night the angel of the Lord^(BR) 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!^(BS) ³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew.^(BT) He returned to Nineveh^(BU) and stayed there.

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