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And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of king Hezekiah -- it [is] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel -- come up hath Shalmaneser king of Asshur against Samaria, and layeth siege to it,

10 and they capture it at the end of three years; in the sixth year of Hezekiah -- it [is] the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel -- hath Samaria been captureth,

11 and the king of Asshur removeth Israel to Asshur, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor [by] the river Gozan, and [in] cities of the Medes,

12 because that they have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God, and transgress His covenant -- all that He commanded Moses, servant of Jehovah -- yea, they have not hearkened nor done [it].

13 And in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah hath Sennacherib king of Asshur come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and seizeth them,

14 and Hezekiah king of Judah sendeth unto the king of Asshur to Lachish, saying, `I have sinned, turn back from off me; that which thou puttest on me I bear;' and the king of Asshur layeth on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold,

15 and Hezekiah giveth all the silver that is found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the house of the king;

16 at that time hath Hezekiah cut off the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and the pillars that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and giveth them to the king of Asshur.

17 And the king of Asshur sendeth Tartan, and the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the butlers, from Lachish, unto king Hezekiah, with a heavy force, to Jerusalem, and they go up and come in to Jerusalem, and they go up, and come in and stand by the conduit of the upper pool that [is] in the highway of the fuller's field.

18 And they call unto the king, and go out unto them doth Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the remembrancer.

19 And the chief of the butlers saith unto them, `Say, I pray you, unto Hezekiah, Thus said the great king, the king of Asshur, What [is] this confidence in which thou hast confided?

20 Thou hast said: Only a word of the lips! counsel and might [are] for battle; now, on whom hast thou trusted that thou hast rebelled against me?

21 `Now, lo, thou hast trusted for thee on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; which a man leaneth on, and it hath gone into his hand, and pierced it! -- so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

22 `And when ye say unto me, Unto Jehovah our God we have trusted, is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath turned aside, and saith to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar do ye bow yourselves in Jerusalem?

23 `And, now, give a pledge for thee, I pray thee, to my lord the king of Asshur, and I give to thee two thousand horses, if thou art able to give for thee riders on them.

24 And how dost thou turn back the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, that thou dost trust for thee on Egypt for chariot, and for horsemen?

25 Now, without Jehovah have I come up against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and thou hast destroyed it.'

26 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah saith -- and Shebna, and Joah -- to the chief of the butlers, `Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants [in] Aramaean, for we are understanding, and do not speak with us [in] Jewish, in the ears of the people who [are] on the wall.'

27 And the chief of the butlers saith unto them, `For thy lord, and unto thee, hath my lord sent me to speak these words? is it not for the men, those sitting on the wall to eat their own dung and to drink their own water, with you?'

28 And the chief of the butlers standeth and calleth with a great voice [in] Jewish, and speaketh and saith, `Hear ye a word of the great king, the king of Asshur:

29 thus said the king, Let not Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you out of his hand;

30 and let not Hezekiah make you trust unto Jehovah, saying, Jehovah doth certainly deliver us, and this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

31 `Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well,

32 till my coming in, and I have taken you unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive, and honey, and live, and die not; and do not hearken unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us.

33 `Have the gods of the nations delivered at all each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur?

34 Where [are] the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand?

35 Who [are they] among all the gods of the lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah doth deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'

36 And the people have kept silent, and have not answered him a word, for the command of the king is, saying, `Do not answer him.'

37 And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [is] over the house, cometh in, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the remembrancer, unto Hezekiah, with rent garments, and they declare to him the words of the chief of the butlers.

19 And it cometh to pass, at king Hezekiah's hearing, that he rendeth his garments, and covereth himself with sackcloth, and entereth the house of Jehovah,

and sendeth Eliakim, who [is] over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covering themselves with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz,

and they say unto him, `Thus said Hezekiah -- A day of distress, and rebuke, and despising [is] this day; for come have sons unto the birth, and power there is not to bring forth.

`It may be Jehovah thy God doth hear all the words of the chief of the butlers with which the king of Asshur his lord hath sent him to reproach the living God, and hath decided concerning the words that Jehovah thy God hath heard, and thou hast lifted up prayer for the remnant that is found.'

And the servants of king Hezekiah come in unto Isaiah,

and Isaiah saith to them, `Thus do ye say unto your lord: Thus said Jehovah, Be not afraid because of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me.

Lo, I am giving in him a spirit, and he hath heard a report, and hath turned back to his land, and I have caused him to fall by the sword in his land.'

And the chief of the butlers turneth back and findeth the king of Asshur fighting against Libnah, for he hath heard that he hath journeyed from Lachish.

And he heareth concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, `Lo, he hath come out to fight with thee;' and he turneth and sendeth messengers unto Hezekiah, saying,

10 `Thus do ye speak unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God lift thee up in whom thou art trusting, saying, Jerusalem is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur.

11 Lo, thou hast heard that which the kings of Asshur have done to all the lands -- to devote them; and thou art delivered!

12 did the gods of the nations deliver them whom my fathers destroyed -- Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who [are] in Thelassar?

13 Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'

14 And Hezekiah taketh the letters out of the hand of the messengers, and readeth them, and goeth up to the house of Jehovah, and Hezekiah spreadeth it before Jehovah.

15 And Hezekiah prayeth before Jehovah, and saith, `O Jehovah, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubs, Thou [art] God Himself -- Thyself alone -- to all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made the heavens and the earth.

16 Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, and hear; open, O Jehovah, Thine eyes, and see; and hear Thou the words of Sennacherib with which he hath sent him to reproach the living God.

17 `Truly, O Jehovah, kings of Asshur have laid waste the nations, and their land,

18 and have put their gods into fire, for they [are] no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone, and destroy them.

19 And now, O Jehovah our God, save us, we pray Thee, out of his hand, and know do all kingdoms of the earth that Thou [art] Jehovah God -- Thyself alone.'

20 And Isaiah son of Amoz sendeth unto Hezekiah, saying, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed unto Me concerning Sennacherib king of Asshur I have heard:

21 this [is] the word that Jehovah spake concerning him: `Trampled on thee -- laughed at thee, Hath the virgin daughter of Zion Behind thee shaken the head -- Hath the daughter of Jerusalem?

22 Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Yea, thou dost lift up on high thine eyes -- Against the Holy One of Israel!

23 By the hand of thy messengers Thou hast reproached the Lord, and sayest: In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of mountains -- The sides of Lebanon, And I cut down the height of its cedars, The choice of its firs, And I enter the lodging of its extremity, The forest of its Carmel.

24 I have digged, and drunk strange waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.

25 Hast thou not heard from afar, it I made, From days of old that I formed it? Now I have brought it in, And it becometh a desolation, Ruinous heaps [are] fenced cities,

26 And their inhabitants [are] feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up, They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted corn -- before it hath risen up!

27 And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thine anger towards Me;

28 Because of thine anger towards Me, And thy noise -- it came up into Mine ears, I have put My hook in thy nose, And My bridle in thy lips, And have caused thee to turn back, In the way in which thou camest.

29 And this to thee [is] the sign, Food of the year [is] the spontaneous growth, And in the second year the self-produced, And in the third year sow ye, and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.

30 And it hath continued -- The escaped of the house of Judah That hath been left -- to take root beneath, And hath made fruit upward.

31 For from Jerusalem goeth out a remnant, And an escape from mount Zion; The zeal of Jehovah [of Hosts] doth this.

32 Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Concerning the king of Asshur: He doth not come in unto this city, Nor doth he shoot there an arrow, Nor doth he come before it with shield. Nor doth he pour out against it a mount.

33 In the way that he cometh in -- In it he turneth back, And unto this city he doth not come in, The affirmation of Jehovah --

34 And I have covered over this city, To save it, for Mine own sake, And for the sake of David My servant.'

35 And it cometh to pass, in that night, that a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred eighty and five thousand, and they rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them [are] dead corpses.

36 And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeyeth, and goeth, and turneth back, and dwelleth in Nineveh;

37 and it cometh to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adramelech and Sharezar [his sons] have smitten him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-Haddon his son reigneth in his stead.

In King Hezekiah’s fourth year,(A) which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 10 At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. 11 The king(B) of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.(C) 12 This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant(D)—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.(E) They neither listened to the commands(F) nor carried them out.

13 In the fourteenth year(G) of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah(H) and captured them. 14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:(I) “I have done wrong.(J) Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents[a] of silver and thirty talents[b] of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave(K) him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors(L) and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem(M)(N)

17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,(O) 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,(P) on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king; and Eliakim(Q) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna(R) the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

19 The 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(S) of yours? 20 You 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? 21 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt,(T) that splintered reed of a staff,(U) which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22 But 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! 24 How can you repulse one officer(V) of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen[c]? 25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?(W) The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

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

27 But 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?”

28 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive(Y) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. 30 Do 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(Z) and drink water from your own cistern,(AA) 32 until 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(AB) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ 33 Has the god(AC) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath(AD) and Arpad?(AE) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who 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?”(AF)

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

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

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold(AI)

19 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore(AJ) his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim(AK) the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests,(AL) all wearing sackcloth,(AM) to the prophet Isaiah(AN) son of Amoz. They 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(AO) of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It 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(AP) the living God, and that he will rebuke(AQ) him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant(AR) that still survives.”

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

When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,(AW) he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.(AX)

Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,[d] 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(AY) on deceive(AZ) you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver(BA) them—the gods of Gozan,(BB) Harran,(BC) Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”(BD)

Hezekiah’s Prayer(BE)

14 Hezekiah received the letter(BF) from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,(BG) you alone(BH) are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear,(BI) Lord, and hear;(BJ) open your eyes,(BK) 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. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods(BL) but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.(BM) 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver(BN) us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms(BO) of the earth may know(BP) that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall(BQ)(BR)

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

“‘Virgin Daughter(BU) Zion
    despises(BV) you and mocks(BW) you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head(BX) as you flee.
22 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?(BY)
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
    Against the Holy One(BZ) of Israel!
23 By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,(CA)
    “With my many chariots(CB)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down(CC) its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest parts,
    the finest of its forests.
24 I 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?(CD)
    Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned(CE) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.(CF)
26 Their people, drained of power,(CG)
    are dismayed(CH) and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,(CI)
like grass sprouting on the roof,
    scorched(CJ) before it grows up.

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

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

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,(CP)
    and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
    plant vineyards(CQ) and eat their fruit.
30 Once more a remnant(CR) of the kingdom of Judah
    will take root(CS) below and bear fruit above.
31 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,(CT)
    and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.(CU)

“The zeal(CV) 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.
33 By the way that he came he will return;(CW)
    he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
34 I will defend(CX) this city and save it,
    for my sake and for the sake of David(CY) my servant.’”

35 That night the angel of the Lord(CZ) 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!(DA) 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew.(DB) He returned to Nineveh(DC) and stayed there.

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

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 18:14 That is, about 11 tons or about 10 metric tons
  2. 2 Kings 18:14 That is, about 1 ton or about 1 metric ton
  3. 2 Kings 18:24 Or charioteers
  4. 2 Kings 19:9 That is, the upper Nile region