2 Kings 18:9–20:19

⁹Shalmaneser marched to Samaria and surrounded it. It was in the fourth year of King Hezekiah. That was the seventh year of Hoshea, the king of Israel. He was the son of Elah. Shalmaneser was king of Assyria.

¹⁰At the end of three years the army of Assyria took Samaria. So it was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah. That was the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Israel. ¹¹The king of Assyria took the people of Israel away from their own land. He sent them off to Assyria. He settled some of them in Halah. He settled others in Gozan on the Habor River. And he settled still others in the towns of the Medes.

¹²Those things happened because the Israelites hadn’t obeyed the Lord their God. They had broken the covenant he had made with them. They had refused to do everything Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. They hadn’t paid any attention to those commands. They hadn’t obeyed them.

¹³Sennacherib attacked and captured all of the cities of Judah that had high walls around them. It was in the 14th year of the rule of Hezekiah. Sennacherib was king of Assyria.

¹⁴Hezekiah, the king of Judah, sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. It said, “I have done what is wrong. Pull your troops back from me. Then I’ll pay you anything you ask me to.”

The king of Assyria forced Hezekiah, the king of Judah, to give him 11 tons of silver. Hezekiah also had to give him a ton of gold. ¹⁵So Hezekiah gave him all of the silver that was in the Lord’s temple. He also gave him all of the silver that was among the treasures in the royal palace.

¹⁶Hezekiah, the king of Judah, had covered the doors and doorposts of the Lord’s temple with gold. But now he had to strip it off. He had to give it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Warns Jerusalem

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent his highest commander from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He also sent his chief officer and his field commander along with a large army. All of them came up to Jerusalem. They stopped at the channel that brings water from the Upper Pool. It was on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸They called for King Hezekiah. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah went out to them. Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, was in charge of the palace. Shebna was the secretary. Joah, the son of Asaph, kept the records.

¹⁹The field commander said to them, “Give Hezekiah this message. Tell him,

“ ‘Sennacherib is the great king of Assyria. He says, “Why are you putting your faith in what your king says? ²⁰You say you have a military plan. You say you have a strong army. But your words don’t mean anything. Who are you depending on? Why don’t you want to stay under my control?

²¹“ ‘ “You are depending on Egypt. Why are you doing that? Egypt is nothing but a broken papyrus stem. Try leaning on it. It will only cut your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who depends on him.

²²“ ‘ “Suppose you say to me, ‘We are depending on the Lord our God.’ Didn’t Hezekiah remove your god’s high places and altars? Didn’t Hezekiah say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at the altar in Jerusalem’?

²³“ ‘ “Come on. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses. But only if you can put riders on them! ²⁴You are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. You can’t drive away even the least important officer among my master’s officials.

²⁵“ ‘ “Besides, do you think I’ve come without receiving a message from the Lord? Have I come to attack and destroy this place without a message from him? The Lord himself told me to march out against your country. He told me to destroy it.” ’ ”

²⁶Then Shebna, Joah and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, spoke to the field commander. They said, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew. If you do, the people who are on the wall will be able to understand you.”

²⁷But the commander replied, “My master sent me to say these things. Are these words only for your master and you to hear? Aren’t they also for the men who are sitting on the wall? They are going to suffer just like you. They’ll have to eat their own waste. They’ll have to drink their own urine.”

²⁸Then the commander stood up and spoke in the Hebrew language. He called out, “Pay attention to what the great king of Assyria is telling you. ²⁹He says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah trick you. He can’t save you from my powerful hand. ³⁰Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord. Don’t believe him when he says, “You can be sure that the Lord will save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ’

³¹“Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make a peace treaty with me. Come over to my side. Then every one of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree. Every one of you will drink water from your own well. ³²You will do that until I come back. Then I’ll take you to a land that is just like yours. It’s a land that has a lot of grain and fresh wine. It has plenty of bread and vineyards. It has olive trees and honey. So choose life! Don’t choose death!’

“Don’t pay any attention to Hezekiah. He’s telling you a lie when he says, ‘The Lord will save us.’

³³“Has the god of any nation ever saved his land from the powerful hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they saved Samaria from my power?

³⁵“Which one of all of the gods of those countries has been able to save his land from me? So how can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power?”

³⁶But the people remained silent. They didn’t say anything. That’s because King Hezekiah had commanded, “Don’t answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, went to Hezekiah. Eliakim was in charge of the palace. The secretary Shebna went with him. So did Joah, the son of Asaph. Joah kept the records. All of them went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They told him what the field commander had said.

Isaiah Prophesies That Jerusalem Will Be Saved

19When King Hezekiah heard what the field commander had said, he tore his clothes. He put on black clothes. Then he went into the Lord’s temple.

²Hezekiah sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, to the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz. He also sent the leading priests and the secretary Shebna to him. All of them were wearing black clothes.

³They told Isaiah, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today we’re in great trouble. The Lord is warning us. He’s bringing shame on us. Sometimes babies come to the moment when they should be born. But their mothers aren’t strong enough to allow them to be born. Today we are like those mothers. We aren’t strong enough to save ourselves.

⁴“ ‘Perhaps the Lord your God will hear everything the field commander has said. His master, the king of Assyria, has sent him to make fun of the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will punish him for what he has heard him say. So pray for the remaining people who are still alive here.’ ”

⁵King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah. ⁶Then Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says, “Do not be afraid of what you have heard. The officers who are under the king of Assyria have spoken evil things against me. ⁷Listen! I will send him news from his own country. It will upset him so much that he will return home. There I will have him cut down with a sword.” ’ ”

⁸The field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. So the commander pulled his troops back from Jerusalem. He went to join the king. He found out that the king was fighting against Libnah.

⁹During that time Sennacherib received a report. He was told that Tirhakah was marching out to fight against him. Tirhakah was the king of Egypt. He was from the land of Cush.

Sennacherib sent messengers again to Hezekiah with a letter. It said, ¹⁰“Tell Hezekiah, the king of Judah, ‘Don’t let the god you depend on trick you. He says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” But don’t believe him.

¹¹“ ‘I’m sure you have heard about what the kings of Assyria have done to all of the other countries. They have destroyed them completely. So do you think you will be saved? ¹²The kings who ruled before me destroyed many nations. Did the gods of those nations save them? Did the gods of Gozan, Haran or Rezeph save them? What about the gods of the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath? Where is the king of Arpad? Where is the king of the city of Sepharvaim? Where are the kings of Hena or Ivvah?’ ”

Hezekiah Prays to the Lord

¹⁴When Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, he read it. Then he went up to the Lord’s temple. There he spread the letter out in front of the Lord.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. He said, “Lord, you are the God of Israel. You sit on your throne between the cherubim. You alone are God over all of the kingdoms on earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Listen, Lord. Hear us. Open your eyes, Lord. Look at the trouble we’re in. Listen to what Sennacherib is saying. You are the living God. And he dares to make fun of you!

¹⁷“Lord, it’s true that the kings of Assyria have completely destroyed many nations and their lands. ¹⁸They have thrown the statues of the gods of those nations into the fire. And they have destroyed them. That’s because they weren’t really gods at all. They were nothing but statues that were made out of wood and stone. They were made by the hands of men.

¹⁹“Lord our God, save us from the powerful hand of Sennacherib. Then all of the kingdoms on earth will know that you alone are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies That Sennacherib Will Fall From Power

²⁰Isaiah sent a message to Hezekiah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz. Isaiah said, “The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, ‘I have heard your prayer about Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.’

²¹“Here is the message the Lord has spoken against him. The Lord says,

“ ‘You will not win the battle over Zion.

Its people hate you and make fun of you.

The people of Jerusalem lift up their heads…