Chapter 19
1 When King Hezekiah heard it , he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth , and went into Yahweh ’s house .
2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household , Shebna the scribe , and the elders of the priests , covered with sackcloth , to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3 They said to him , " Hezekiah says , ‘ Today is a day of trouble , of rebuke , and of rejection ; for the children have come to the point of birth , and there is no strength to deliver them .
4 It may be Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh , whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God , and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard . Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left .’"
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah .
6 Isaiah said to them , " Tell your master this : ‘ Yahweh says , "Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard , with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me .
7 Behold , I will put a spirit in him , and he will hear news , and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."’"
8 So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah ; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish .
9 When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia , " Behold , he has come out to fight against you ," he sent messengers again to Hezekiah , saying,
10 "Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this : ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you , saying, 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, by destroying them utterly . Will you be delivered ?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them , which my fathers have destroyed — Gozan , Haran , Rezeph , and the children of Eden who were in Telassar ?
13 Where is the king of Hamath , the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim , of Hena , and Ivvah ?’"
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it . Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh ’s house , and spread it before Yahweh .
15 Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh , and said, " Yahweh , the God of Israel , enthroned above the cherubim , you are the God , even you alone , of all the kingdoms of the earth . You have made heaven and earth .
16 Incline your ear , Yahweh , and hear . Open your eyes , Yahweh , and see . Hear the words of Sennacherib , which he has sent to defy the living God .
17 Truly, Yahweh , the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands ,
18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men ’s hands , wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them .
19 Now therefore , Yahweh our God , save us , I beg you , out of his hand , that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you , Yahweh , are God alone ."
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah , saying, " Yahweh , the God of Israel , says ‘ You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, and I have heard you .
21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him : ‘ The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you . The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you .
22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed ? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high ? Against the Holy One of Israel !
23 By your messengers , you have defied the Lord, and have said, " With the multitude of my chariots , I have come up to the height of the mountains , to the innermost parts of Lebanon , and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees ; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place , the forest of his fruitful field .
24 I have dug and drunk strange waters , and I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt with the sole of my feet ."
25 Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago , and formed it of ancient times ? Now I have brought it to pass , that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps .
26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power . They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field and like the green herb , like the grass on the housetops and like grain blasted before it has grown up .
27 But I know your sitting down , your going out , your coming in , and your raging against me .
28 Because of your raging against me , and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips , and I will turn you back by the way by which you came .’
29 " This will be the sign to you : This year , you will eat that which grows of itself , and in the second year that which springs from that ; and in the third year sow and reap , and plant vineyards and eat their fruit .
30 The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward , and bear fruit upward .
31 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out , and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape . Yahweh ’s zeal will perform this .
32 " Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘ He will not come to this city , nor shoot an arrow there . He will not come before it with shield , nor cast up a mound against it .
33 He will return the same way that he came , and he will not come to this city ,’ says Yahweh .
34 ‘ For I will defend this city to save it , for my own sake and for my servant David ’s sake .’"
35 That night , Yahweh ’s angel went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning , behold , these were all dead bodies .
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed , went home , and lived at Nineveh .
37 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword ; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place .