2 Kings
Chapter Ninteen
1 ¶ And so it was,
when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with
sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2 Then 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 And they said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah: 'This day is a day of trouble,
and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is
no strength to bring them forth.
4 'It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh,
whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and
will rebuke the words which the LORD 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 And Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, 'Thus says
the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 "Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and
return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own
land."'"
8 ¶ Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against
Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Look, he has
come out to make war with you." So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah,
saying,
10 "Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not let
your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be
given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
11 'Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by
utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12 'Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed,
Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people 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, Hena, and Ivah?'"
14 And Hezekiah received 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 Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD God of Israel,
the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the
kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
16 "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see;
and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living
God.
17 "Truly, 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, but
the work of men's hands-wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
19 "Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that
all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone."
20 ¶ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says
the LORD God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king
of Assyria, I have heard.'
21 "This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: 'The virgin,
the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of
Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!
22 'Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your
voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have reproached the Lord, And said: "By the multitude
of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits
of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I
will enter the extremity of its borders, To its fruitful forest.
24 I have dug and drunk strange water, And with the soles of my feet I have
dried up All the brooks of defense."
25 'Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed
it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified
cities into heaps of ruins.
26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the
housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
27 'But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your
rage against Me.
28 Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to 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 which you came.
29 'This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And in the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow
and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
30 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root
downward, And bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount
Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.'
32 "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall
not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come
into this city,' Says the LORD.
34 'For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant
David's sake.'"
35 ¶ And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD
went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five
thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses-all
dead.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and
remained at Nineveh.
37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god,
that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they
escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Go to Chapter Twenty
Home / Bible studies / Bible Survey / Special Studies / General Articles / Non-Bible Articles / Sermons / Sermon Outlines / Links / Questions and Answers / What Saith The Scriptures /Daily Devotional / Correspondence Courses / What is the Church of Christ / Book: Christian Growth / Website Policy / E-mail / About Me /