2 Kings 19:1–34

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

19:1–13pp—Isa 37:1–13

19When King Hezekiah heard this, he toreⁱ his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. ²He sent Eliakim^j the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests,^k all wearing sackcloth,^l to the prophet Isaiah^m son of Amoz. ³They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the momentⁿ of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule^o the living God, and that he will rebuke^p him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant^q that still survives.”

⁵When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid^r of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^s me. ⁷Listen! When he hears a certain report,^t I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.^u’ ”

⁸When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,^v he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.^w

⁹Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,^a was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend^x on deceive^y you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ ¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹²Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver^z them—the gods of Gozan,^a Harran,^b Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”^c

Hezekiah’s Prayer

19:14–19pp—Isa 37:14–20

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter^d from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,^e you alone^f are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Give ear,^g Lord, and hear;^h open your eyes,ⁱ Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

¹⁷“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods^j but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.^{k 19}Now, Lord our God, deliver^l us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms^m of the earth may knowⁿ that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall

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

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

“ ‘Virgin Daughter^q Zion

despises^r you and mocks^s you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head^t as you flee.

²²Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^u

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One^v of Israel!

²³By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,^w

“With my many chariots^x

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon.

I have cut down^y its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.

I have reached its remotest parts,

the finest of its forests.

²⁴I 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 planned^a it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.^b

²⁶Their people, drained of power,^c

are dismayed^d and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,^e

like grass sprouting on the roof,

scorched^f before it grows up.

²⁷“ ‘But I know^g where you are

and when you come and go

and how you rage against me.

²⁸Because you rage against me

and because your insolence has reached my ears,

I will put my hook^h in your nose

and my bitⁱ in your mouth,

and I will make you return^j

by the way you came.’

²⁹“This will be the sign^k 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 vineyards^m and eat their fruit.

³⁰Once more a remnantⁿ of the kingdom of Judah

will take root^o below and bear fruit above.

³¹For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^p

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.^q

“The zeal^r 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.

³³By the way that he came he will return;^s

he will not enter this city,

declares the Lord.

³⁴I will defend^t this city and save it,

for my sake and for the sake of David^u my servant.’ ”