2 Kings 18:17–20:11

¹⁷So the king of Assyria sent his top three military chiefs (the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh) from Lachish with a strong military force to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool on the road to the laundry commons.

¹⁸They called loudly for the king. Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the court historian went out to meet them.

^19–22The third officer, the Rabshakeh, was spokesman. He said, “Tell Hezekiah: A message from The Great King, the king of Assyria: You’re living in a world of make-believe, of pious fantasy. Do you think that mere words are any substitute for military strategy and troops? Now that you’ve revolted against me, who can you expect to help you? You thought Egypt would, but Egypt’s nothing but a paper tiger—one puff of wind and she collapses; Pharaoh king of Egypt is nothing but bluff and bluster. Or are you going to tell me, ‘We rely on God’? But Hezekiah has just eliminated most of the people’s access to God by getting rid of all the local God-shrines, ordering everyone in Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at the Jerusalem altar only.’

^23–24“So be reasonable. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you think you can provide riders for them. You can’t do it? Well, then, how do you think you’re going to turn back even one raw buck private from my master’s troops? How long are you going to hold on to that figment of your imagination, these hoped-for Egyptian chariots and horses?

²⁵“Do you think I’ve come up here to destroy this country without the express approval of God? The fact is that God expressly ordered me, ‘Attack and destroy this country!’ ”

²⁶Eliakim son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please, speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand Aramaic. Don’t speak in Hebrew—everyone crowded on the city wall can hear you.”

²⁷But the Rabshakeh said, “We weren’t sent with a private message to your master and you; this is public—a message to everyone within earshot. After all, they’re involved in this as well as you; if you don’t come to terms, they’ll be eating their own turds and drinking their own pee right along with you.”

^28–32Then he stepped forward and spoke in Hebrew loud enough for everyone to hear, “Listen carefully to the words of The Great King, the king of Assyria: Don’t let Hezekiah fool you; he can’t save you. And don’t let Hezekiah give you that line about trusting in God, telling you, ‘God will save us—this city will never be abandoned to the king of Assyria.’ Don’t listen to Hezekiah—he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Listen to the king of Assyria—deal with me and live the good life; I’ll guarantee everyone your own plot of ground—a garden and a well! I’ll take you to a land sweeter by far than this one, a land of grain and wine, bread and vineyards, olive orchards and honey. You only live once—so live, really live!

^32–35“No. Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Don’t listen to his lies, telling you ‘God will save us.’ Has there ever been a god anywhere who delivered anyone from the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? And Samaria—did their gods save them? Can you name a god who saved anyone anywhere from me, the king of Assyria? So what makes you think that God can save Jerusalem from me?”

³⁶The people were silent. No one spoke a word for the king had ordered, “Don’t anyone say a word—not one word!”

³⁷Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, and Shebna the royal secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the court historian went back to Hezekiah. They had ripped their robes in despair; they reported to Hezekiah the speech of the Rabshakeh.

^1–319When Hezekiah heard it all, he too ripped his robes apart and dressed himself in rough burlap. Then he went into The Temple of God. He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them dressed in rough burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They said to him, “A message from Hezekiah: ‘This is a black day, a terrible day—doomsday!

Babies poised to be born,

No strength to birth them.

⁴“ ‘Maybe God, your God, has been listening to the blasphemous speech of the Rabshakeh who was sent by the king of Assyria, his master, to humiliate the living God; maybe God, your God, won’t let him get by with such talk; and you, maybe you will lift up prayers for what’s left of these people.’ ”

⁵That’s the message King Hezekiah’s servants delivered to Isaiah.

^6–7Isaiah answered them, “Tell your master, ‘God’s word: Don’t be at all concerned about what you’ve heard from the king of Assyria’s bootlicking errand boys—these outrageous blasphemies. Here’s what I’m going to do: Afflict him with self-doubt. He’s going to hear a rumor and, frightened for his life, retreat to his own country. Once there, I’ll see to it that he gets killed.’ ”

^8–13The Rabshakeh left and found that the king of Assyria had pulled up stakes from Lachish and was now fighting against Libnah. Then Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Cush was on his way to fight against him. So he sent another envoy with orders to deliver this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: “Don’t let that god that you think so much of keep stringing you along with the line, ‘Jerusalem will never fall to the king of Assyria.’ That’s a barefaced lie. You know the track record of the kings of Assyria—country after country laid waste, devastated. And what makes you think you’ll be an exception? Take a good look at these wasted nations, destroyed by my ancestors; did their gods do them any good? Look at Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, the people of Eden at Tel Assar. Ruins. And what’s left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of Sepharvaim, of Hena, of Ivvah? Bones.”

^14–15Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of God and spread it out before God. And Hezekiah prayed—oh, how he prayed!

God, God of Israel, seated

in majesty on the cherubim-throne.

You are the one and only God,

sovereign over all kingdoms on earth,

Maker of heaven,

maker of earth.

¹⁶Open your ears, God, and listen,

open your eyes and look.

Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent,

a brazen insult to the living God!

¹⁷The facts are true, O God: The kings of Assyria

have laid waste countries and kingdoms.

¹⁸Huge bonfires they made of their gods, their

no-gods hand-made from wood and stone.

¹⁹But now O God, our God,

save us from raw Assyrian power;

Make all the kingdoms on earth know

that you are God, the one and only God.

^20–21It wasn’t long before Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah:

God’s word: You’ve prayed to me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria; I’ve heard your prayer. This is my response to him:

The Virgin Daughter of Zion

holds you in utter contempt;

Daughter Jerusalem

thinks you’re nothing but scum.

²²Who do you think it is you’ve insulted?

Who do you think you’ve been bad-mouthing?

Before whom do you suppose you’ve been strutting?

The Holy One of Israel, that’s who!

²³You dispatched your errand boys

to humiliate the Master.

You bragged, “With my army of chariots

I’ve climbed the highest mountains,

snow-peaked alpine Lebanon mountains!

I’ve cut down its giant cedars,

chopped down its prize pine trees.

I’ve traveled the world,

visited the finest forest retreats.

²⁴I’ve dug wells in faraway places

and drunk their exotic waters;

I’ve waded and splashed barefoot

in the rivers of Egypt.”

²⁵Did it never occur to you

that I’m behind all this?

Long, long ago I drew up the plans,

and now I’ve gone into action,

Using you as a doomsday weapon,

reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,

²⁶Leaving their people dispirited,

slumped shoulders, limp souls.

Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,

insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.

²⁷I know when you sit down, when you come

and when you go;

And, yes, I’ve marked every one

of your temper tantrums against me.

²⁸It’s because of your temper,

your blasphemous foul temper,

That I’m putting my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth

And turning you back

to where you came from.

²⁹And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:

This year you’ll eat the gleanings, next year

whatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;

But the third year you’ll sow and harvest,

plant vineyards and eat grapes.

³⁰A remnant of the family of Judah yet again

will sink down roots and raise up fruit.

³¹The remnant will come from Jerusalem,

the survivors from Mount Zion.

The Zeal of God

will make it happen.

³²To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:

He won’t enter this city,

nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;

Won’t brandish a shield,

won’t even begin to set siege;

³³He’ll go home by the same road he came;

he won’t enter this city. God’s word!

³⁴I’ll shield this city, I’ll save this city,

for my sake and for David’s sake.

³⁵And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses!

^36–37Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon became the next king.

¹20Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz paid him a visit and said, “Put your affairs in order; you’re about to die—you haven’t long to live.”

^2–3Hezekiah turned from Isaiah and faced God, praying:

Remember, O God, who I am, what I’ve done!

I’ve lived an honest life before you,

My heart’s been true and steady,

I’ve lived to please you; lived for your approval.

And then the tears flowed. Hezekiah wept.

^4–6Isaiah, leaving, was not halfway across the courtyard when the word of God stopped him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, prince of my people, ‘God’s word,…