Hezekiah sends messengers to Isaiah
(Also in 2 Kings 19:1-7)
1When they told this to King Hezekiah, he tore his clothes, put on sack-cloth and went to the temple. 2The king sent the officials, Eliakim and Shebna, and the chief_priests to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz. They all wore sack-cloth. 3They said to Isaiah: ‘Hezekiah says this day is a bad day, because the Lord is punishing us today. It seems as if the Lord has left us. It is like when the time is there for a baby to be born, but his mother is too weak to have the baby. 4Maybe the Lord your God heard what the chief_officer said. It is his king, the king of Assyria, who has sent him to say bad things about the living God. Maybe the Lord your God will punish the king of Assyria for what he said. There are only a few of us who are still_alive, but please pray for us.’
5When the officials of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them: ‘You must tell the king that the Lord says: “Hezekiah, you have heard how the officers of the king of Assyria said bad things about Me, but you must not worry about it. 7I will make the king of Assyria afraid. He will get a message and he will go back to his own land. There in his land someone will stab him and he will die.” ’
The king of Assyria sends messengers to Hezekiah again
(Also in 2 Kings 19:8-13)
8The chief_officer went back home. They told him that the king of Assyria had gone away from the town of Lachish and had gone to war_against the town of Libnah, and the officer met the king there. 9They told the king that Tirhakah, king of the land of Cush, had come to make war_against him. When the king heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah. He told the messengers 10to say to Hezekiah, the king_of_Judah: ‘Hezekiah, you believe in your God, but you must not trust in Him. He will deceive you. Your God told you that the king of Assyria will not defeat Jerusalem. That is not_true. 11You have seen what the king of Assyria has done to all the other lands. He has destroyed those lands. Who will save you? 12Did the gods of the other nations save them when my forefathers defeated them? No. My forefathers defeated the people of Gozan and Haran and they also defeated the people of the town of Rezeph and the people of the land 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? They are no longer there.’
Hezekiah prays in the temple
(Also in 2 Kings 19:14-19)
14Hezekiah took the letters that the messengers gave him and he read them. Then Hezekiah went to the temple and he put down the letters on the floor in front of the Lord. 15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and he said: 16‘Lord, God of Israel, You rule over all, and your throne is above the cherub-angels. You alone are God of all the lands on earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17Please listen and look at what Sennacherib says. He has sent messages to say bad things about the living God. 18Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the other nations and their lands, that is true. 19They have taken the gods of those nations and thrown them into the fire. But those gods were not_real gods. It was humans who made them from wood and stone. That is why those gods disappeared. 20And now, Lord our God, please protect us from the king of Assyria. Do this so that everyone on earth will know that only You are God.’
Isaiah sends a message to Hezekiah
(Also in 2 Kings 19:20-34)
21Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent a message to Hezekiah. Isaiah said: ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says He has listened to what you have prayed about Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. 22This is what the Lord says about Sennacherib:
“Sennacherib, the people of Jerusalem laugh at you.
They think you are worthless.
The people of Jerusalem
laugh at you and mock you
because you must leave now.
23You said a lot of bad things against Me,
and you shouted and boasted against Me,
against the holy God of Israel.
24You have sent your officers
to say bad things about the Lord.
You said: “‘I have taken my war-chariots
to the highest mountains.
I went to the top of the Lebanon mountains.
I have cut down the biggest cedar trees
and the most beautiful cypress trees on the mountain.
I went to the highest place on the mountain
where the most trees are.
25I made water-wells and drank water,
and I made all the rivers of Egypt
become dry when I walked through them.”’
26But you must know that
I decided long ago that you must do it.
Long ago, I, the Lord, said it must be like that,
and now I have made it happen.
That is why you could destroy
towns and cities with strong walls.
Those cities are only heaps of stones now.
27The people who lived in those cities
were not strong.
They became afraid and
they did not know what to do.
They were like plants in the field,
like green bushes,
like grass growing on the roof of a house.
It becomes dry and dies
before it can grow big.
28Sennacherib, I know
everything that you do,
and when you sit down or come or go.
I also know what you
have said against Me.
29I know about the bad things
that you said and I heard how
you boasted against Me.
That is why I will let people
put a hook through your nose
and a bit in your mouth.
I will lead you like a horse,
back on the same way that you came.
30And Hezekiah, I will give you a sign: This year you will eat the wheat that grows by itself, that you did not sow, and next year you will eat the wheat that will also grow by itself. But the year after that you will sow wheat and harvest it, and you will plant vineyards and eat grapes. 31The people of Judah who are still_alive will be like plants that have strong roots in the ground and give a lot of fruit. 32Yes, people will come from Jerusalem, from Mount_Zion, people who are still_alive. This will happen because the Lord who rules over all will not leave the people of Judah alone. He will help them.”
33That is why I, the Lord, say these words about the king of Assyria:
“He will not come into this city,
and he will not shoot his bow_and_arrows here.
He will not take his shield
to protect himself here.
He will not build a ramp against the wall
of this city to climb over the wall.
34He will go back on the road that he came by,
and he will not get into this city.”
That is what I, the Lord, said. 35Yes, the Lord says:
“I will protect and save this city.
I will do it for Myself and for my servant David.” ’
King Sennacherib dies
(Also in 2 Kings 19:35-37)
36The messenger of the Lord came and he killed 185 000 soldiers in the camp of the Assyrians. When the other Assyrians got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead soldiers lying there. 37King Sennacherib of Assyria took down his tents and he went back to the city of Nineveh and he stayed there.
38One day he was praying in the temple of his god Nisrok, and his sons, Adrammelek and Sharezer, stabbed him with swords and he died. They fled to the land of Ararat and Sennacherib's son, Esarhaddon, became king after his father.
