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4 Kings (2 Kings)

Chapter - 19

1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
2And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3And they said unto him, Thus said Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God has heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus said the Lord in dream, Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
10Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom you trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall you be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
14And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, you art the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
16LORD, bow down your ear, and hear: open, Lord, your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent him to reproach the living God.
17Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
18And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
19Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save you us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you art the Lord God, even you only.
20Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus said the Lord God of Israel, That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion has despised thee, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee.
22Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted thy voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23By thy messengers you have reproached the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees of it, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
24I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25Have you not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
26Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
28Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
29And this shall be a sign unto thee, You shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of it.
30And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
32Therefore thus said the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
33By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, said the Lord in dream.
34For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
38And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
39And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
40And they said unto him, Thus said Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
41It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God has heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
42So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
43And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus said the Lord in dream, Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
44Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
45So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
46And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
47Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom you trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
48Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall you be delivered?
49Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?
50Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
51And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
52And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, you art the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
53LORD, bow down your ear, and hear: open, Lord, your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent him to reproach the living God.
54Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
55And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
56Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save you us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you art the Lord God, even you only.
57Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus said the Lord God of Israel, That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
58This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion has despised thee, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee.
59Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted thy voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
60By thy messengers you have reproached the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees of it, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
61I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
62Have you not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
63Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
64But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
65Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
66And this shall be a sign unto thee, You shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of it.
67And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
68For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
69Therefore thus said the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
70By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, said the Lord in dream.
71For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
72And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
73So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
74And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.