2 Kings 19:20–34

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall

19:20–37pp—Isa 37:21–38
19:35–37pp—2Ch 32:20–21

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

“ ‘Virgin Daughterq Zion

despisesr you and mockss you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her headt as you flee.

22 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?u

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy Onev of Israel!

23 By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,w

“With my many chariotsx

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon.

I have cut downy 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?z

Long ago I ordained it.

In days of old I planneda it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.b

26 Their people, drained of power,c

are dismayedd and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,e

like grass sprouting on the roof,

scorchedf before it grows up.

27 “ ‘But I knowg 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 hookh in your nose

and my biti in your mouth,

and I will make you returnj

by the way you came.’

29 “This will be the signk for you, Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,l

and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third year sow and reap,

plant vineyardsm and eat their fruit.

30 Once more a remnantn of the kingdom of Judah

will take rooto below and bear fruit above.

31 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,p

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.q

“The zealr 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;s

he will not enter this city,

declares the Lord.

34 I will defendt this city and save it,

for my sake and for the sake of Davidu my servant.’ ”