2 Kings
2 Kings 19 ©
1 Hezekiah in deep affliction sendeth to desire Isaiah's prayers. 6 Isaiah returneth an answer of comfort. 8 Sennacherib, being called away to oppose the king of Ethiopia, sendeth a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah. 14 Hezekiah's prayer upon the receipt of it. 20 Isaiah's prophecy concerning the pride and overthrow of Sennacherib, and the prosperity of Zion. 35 An angel destroyeth the Assyrian army: Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons.
AND ait came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and bcovered himself with sackcloth, and cwent into the house of the LORD.
And he sent dEliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to eIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
It hmay be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent ito reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore jlift up thy prayer for the remnant that are 2left.
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
¶And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, kBe not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which lthe servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
And when qhe heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, rLet not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, sthou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
¶And Hezekiah received the yletter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and zspread it before the LORD.
And Hezekiah aprayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which bdwellest between the cherubims, thou art cthe God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
And have 3cast their gods into the fire: for they were gno gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
Now therefore, O hLORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, ithat all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
¶Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus jsaith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria kI have heard.
4By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, oWith 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 5tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of 6his Carmel.
I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of 7besieged places.
Hast thou not heard 8long ago how pI have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Therefore their inhabitants were 9of 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 housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
But I know thy 10abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
Because qthy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore rI will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
And this shall be a ssign unto thee, Ye shall eat tthis 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 thereof.
And the 11remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
Therefore thus saith 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 wcast a *bank against it.
For yI will defend this city, to save it, zfor mine own sake, and afor my servant David's sake.
¶And bit came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote cin 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.