Isaiah Assures Deliverance
1 Andso it was, when King Hezekiah heardit,that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of theLord.
2 Then he sent Eliakim, whowasover 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 dayisa day oftrouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, butthereisno strength to bring them forth.
4 It may be that theLordyour God will hear the words oftheRabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent toreproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which theLordyour God has heard. Therefore lift upyourprayer 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 theLord: “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.” ’ ”
Sennacherib’s Threat and Hezekiah’s Prayer
8 ThentheRabshakeh 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, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heardit,he 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 thegods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden whowerein Telassar?
13 Whereisthe king ofHamath, 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 theLord, and spread it before theLord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to theLord, saying:
16 “OLordof hosts, God of Israel,theOnewho dwellsbetweenthe cherubim, YouareGod, Youalone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17 Incline Your ear, OLord, and hear; open Your eyes, OLord, and see; andhear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
18 Truly,Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and theirlands,
19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for theywerenot gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, OLordour God,save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth mayknow that YouaretheLord, You alone.”
The Word of the Lord Concerning Sennacherib
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says theLordGod of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 thisisthe word which theLordhas spoken concerning him:
“The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Has shakenherhead behind your back!
23 “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raisedyourvoice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By your servants 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
Andits choice cypress trees;
I will enter its farthest height,
To its fruitful forest.
25 I have dug and drunk water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of defense.’
26 “Did you not hearlong ago
HowI made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should be
For crushing fortified citiesintoheaps of ruins.
27 Therefore their inhabitantshadlittle power;
They were dismayed and confounded;
They wereasthe grass of the field
And the green herb,
Asthe grass on the housetops
Andgrainblighted before it is grown.
28 “But I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
29 Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
# ThereforeI will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
# And I willturn you back
By the way which you came.” ’
30 “Thisshallbea sign to you:
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,
And the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
# Thezeal of theLordof hosts will do this.
33 “Therefore thus says theLordconcerning 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.
34 By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,’
Says theLord.
35 ‘For I willdefend this city, to save it
# For My own sake and for My servantDavid’s sake.’ ”
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
36 Then theangel of theLordwent out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and whenpeoplearose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returnedhome,and remained at Nineveh.
38 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. ThenEsarhaddon his son reigned in his place.