2 Kings 19–21

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel

19When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, ^dand went into the Lord’s temple. ^e2Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, ^fand the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, ^gto the prophet Isaiah ^hson of Amoz. ³They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, ⁱbut there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴Perhaps Yahweh your God ^jwill hear ^kall the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke ^lhim for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’ ” ^m

⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid ⁿbecause of the words you have heard, that the king of Assyria’s attendants ^ohave blasphemed ^pMe with. ⁷I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land ^qwhere I will cause him to fall by the sword.’ ” ^r

Sennacherib’s Departing Threat

⁸When ^sthe Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, ^the returned and found him fighting against Libnah. ^u9The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, ^vdeceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. ^w11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? ¹²Did the gods of the nations ^xthat my predecessors destroyed rescue them—nations such as Gozan, ^yHaran, ^zRezeph, and the Edenites ^ain Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’ ” ^b

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴Hezekiah took ^cthe letter ^dfrom the hand of the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord. ^e15Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord:

Lord God of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim, ^fYou are God—You alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ^g16Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. ^hHear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. ⁱ¹⁷Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. ^j18They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone. ^kSo they have destroyed them. ¹⁹Now, Lord our God, please save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God—You alone. ^l

God’s Answer through Isaiah

²⁰Then ^mIsaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer ⁿto Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria.’ ^o21This is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

Virgin Daughter Zion ^p

despises you and scorns you:

Daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head behind your back. ^qr

²²Who is it you mocked and blasphemed? ^s

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One of Israel! ^t

²³You have mocked the Lord ^uthrough ^vyour messengers. ^w

You have said:

With my many chariots ^x

I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon.

I cut down its tallest cedars,

its choice cypress trees.

I came to its farthest outpost,

its densest forest.

²⁴I dug wells,

and I drank foreign waters.

I dried up all the streams of Egypt ^y

with the soles of my feet.

²⁵Have you not heard? ^z

I designed it long ago;

I planned it in days gone by.

I have now brought it to pass, ^a

and you have crushed fortified cities

into piles of rubble.

²⁶Their inhabitants have become powerless,

dismayed, and ashamed.

They are plants of the field,

tender grass,

grass on the rooftops, ^b

blasted by the east wind. ^c

²⁷But I know your sitting down, ^de

your going out and your coming in,

and your raging against Me.

²⁸Because your raging against Me

and your arrogance have reached My ears,

I will put My hook in your nose ^f

and My bit in your mouth;

I will make you go back

the way you came.

²⁹“This will be the sign ^gfor you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³⁰The surviving remnant ^hof the house of Israel will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. ⁱThe zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this. ^j

³²Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city

or shoot an arrow there

or come before it with a shield

or build up an assault ramp against it. ^k

³³He will go back

on the road that he came

and he will not enter this city.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

³⁴I will defend this city and rescue it

for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.” ^l

Defeat and Death of Sennacherib

³⁵That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ^m36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh. ⁿ

³⁷One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech ^oand Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. ^pThen his son Esar-haddon ^qbecame king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20In those days ^rHezekiah became terminally ill. ^sThe prophet Isaiah ^tson of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, ^ufor you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ” ^v

²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall ^wand prayed to the Lord, ³“Please Lord, remember ^xhow I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases You.” ^yzAnd Hezekiah wept bitterly. ^a

⁴Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader ^bof My people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; ^cI have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. ⁶I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’ ” ^d

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered. ^e

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign ^fthat the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day?”

⁹Isaiah said, “This is the sign ^gto you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: Should the shadow go ahead 10 steps or go back 10 steps?”

¹⁰Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen 10 steps. No, let the shadow go back 10 steps.” ¹¹So Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ^hback the 10 steps it had descended on Ahaz’s stairway. ^ij

Hezekiah’s Folly

¹²At that time ^kMerodach-baladan ^lson of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. ¹³Hezekiah gave them a hearing and showed them his whole treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ^m

¹⁴Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ ⁿsays the Lord. ¹⁸‘Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, ^oand they will become eunuchs ^pin the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” ^q

¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” ^rfor he thought: Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?

Hezekiah’s Death

²⁰The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool ^sand the tunnel and brought water into the city, ^tare written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ^u21Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and his son Manasseh became king in his place. ^v

Judah’s King Manasseh

21Manasseh ^wwas 12 years old when he became king and reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ^x2He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, ^yimitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. ^z3He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed ^aand reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, ^bas King Ahab of Israel had done; ^che also worshiped the whole heavenly host ^dand served them. ⁴He built altars in the Lord’s temple, ^ewhere the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put My name.” ^f5He built altars to the whole heavenly host ^gin both courtyards of the Lord’s temple. ^h6He made his son pass through the fire, ⁱpracticed witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. ^jHe did a great amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, provoking Him. ^k

⁷Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple…