2 Kings 19
1 And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard, that he rent his clothes, —and covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh;
And when king Hezekiah had heard this, he tore his garments, and he covered himself with sackcloth, and he entered the house of the Lord.
2 and sent Eliakim who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, —unto Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz;
And he sent Eliakim, the first ruler of the house, and Shebnah, the scribe, and the elders from the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
3 and they said unto him—Thus, saith Hezekiah, A day of trouble, and rebuke, and reviling, is this day, —for children are come to the birth, and, strength, is there none to bring forth!
And they said to him: “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy. The sons are ready to be born, but the woman in labor does not have the strength.
4 It may be that Yahweh thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord hath sent, to reproach a Living God, and will rebuke the words, which Yahweh thy God hath heard, —Wherefore lift thou up a prayer, for the remnant that remaineth.
Perhaps the Lord, your God, may hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians, his lord, sent so that he would reproach the living God, and rebuke with words, which the Lord, your God, has heard. And so, offer a prayer on behalf of the remnant that has been found.”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came unto Isaiah.
And the servants of king Hezekiah went to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus, shall ye, say, unto your lord, —Thus, saith Yahweh—Be not thou afraid, because of the words which thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled, me:
And Isaiah said to them: “So shall you say to your lord. Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid before the face of the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.
7 Behold me! about to let go against him, a blast, and, when he heareth the report, then will he return to his own country, —and I will cause him to fall by the sword, in his own land.
Behold, I will send a spirit to him, and he will hear a report, and he will return to his own land. And I will bring him down by the sword in his own land.”
8 So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, —for he had heard that he had broken up from Lachish.
Then Rabshakeh returned, and he found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Libnah. For he had heard that he had withdrawn from Lachish.
9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, saying, Lo! he hath come forth to fight with thee, —then he again sent messengers unto Hezekiah, saying—
And when he had heard from Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia, saying, “Behold, he has gone out so that he may fight against you,” and when he went forth against him, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying:
10 Thus, shall ye, speak, unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying—Let not thy God in whom thou art trusting beguile thee, saying, —Jerusalem shall not be given over, into the hand of the king of Assyria.
“So shall you say to Hezekiah, the king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom you trust, lead you astray. And you should not say, ‘Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.’
11 Lo! thou thyself, hast heard, what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, in devoting them to destruction, —and shalt, thou, be delivered?
For you yourself have heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands, the manner in which they have laid waste to them. Therefore, how would you alone be able to be freed?
12 Did the gods of the nations, deliver them, whom my fathers destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, —and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who were in Telassar?
Have the gods of the nations freed any of those whom my fathers have destroyed, such as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, who were at Telassar?
13 Where are the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, —of Hena, and Ivvah?
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena, and of Avva?”
14 And, when Hezekiah had received the letter at the hand of the messengers, and had read it, then went he up to the house of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before Yahweh.
And so, when Hezekiah had received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and had read it, he ascended to the house of the Lord, and he spread it out before the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, O Yahweh, God of Israel, inhabiting the cherubim, thou thyself, art GOD, alone, for all the kingdoms of the earth, —thou, didst make the heavens and the earth.
And he prayed in his sight, saying: “O Lord, God of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, you alone are God, over all the kings of the earth. You made heaven and earth.
16 Bow down, O Yahweh, thine ear, and hear, Open, O Yahweh, thine eyes, and see, —yea hear thou the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent—To reproach a Living God!
Incline your ear, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, who sent so that he might reproach the living God before us.
17 Of a truth, O Yahweh, —the kings of Assyria have devoted to destruction the nations and their lands;
Truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have devastated all peoples and lands.
18 and have put their gods in the fire, —for, no-gods, were, they, but the work of the hands of men—wood and stone, and so they destroyed them.
And they have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but instead were the works of men’s hands, out of wood and stone. And so they destroyed them.
19 Now, therefore, O Yahweh our God, save us we pray thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that, thou, Yahweh, art God, alone!
Now therefore, O Lord our God, bring us salvation from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord God.”
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, —Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, What thou hast prayed unto me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.
Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard what you beseeched from me, concerning Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians.
21 This, is the word that Yahweh hath spoken concerning him, —The virgin daughter of Zion, laugheth thee to scorn, mocketh thee, The daughter of Jerusalem, after thee, doth wag her head.
This is the word that the Lord has spoken about him: The virgin daughter of Zion has spurned and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back.
22 Whom, hast thou reproached, and insulted? and, against whom, hast thou lifted high thy voice? yea thou hast proudly raised thine eyes, against the Holy One of Israel.
Whom have you reproached, and whom have you blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 Through thy messengers, thou hast reproached My Lord, and hast said—With my multitude of chariots, have I ascended the height of the mountains, the recesses of Lebanon, —and have cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest firs, and have entered the shelter of its summit, its thick garden forests.
By the hand of your servants, you have reproached the Lord, and you have said: ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the summit of Lebanon. And I have cut down its sublime cedars, and its elect spruce trees. And I have entered even to its limits. And its forest of Carmel,
24 I, have digged, and have drunk foreign waters, —and have dried up, with the soles of my feet, all the streams of besieged places.
I have cut down. And I drank foreign waters, and I dried up all the enclosed waters with the steps of my feet.’
25 Hast thou not heard—that, long ago, that, is what I appointed, and, from days of old, devised it? Now, have I brought it to pass, that thou mightest serve to lay waste, in desolate ruins, fortified cities;
But have you not heard what I have done from the beginning? From the days of antiquity, I have formed it, and now I have brought it to be. And fortified cities of fighting men will become piles of ruins.
26 And, their inhabitants, being powerless, were overthrown and put to shame, —they became grass of the field, and young herbage, grass on housetops, and seed withered before it came up.
And whoever may settle in these, they have trembled, with a weak hand, and they have been confounded. They have become like the hay of the field, and like weeds sprouting on the rooftops, which dry up before they reached maturity.
27 Howbeit, thine abode, and thy coming out and thy going in, I know, —and thy raging against me.
Your habitation, and your exit, and your entrance, and your way, I knew beforehand, along with your fury against me.
28 Because, thy raging against me, and thy contempt, have come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my ring in thy nose, and my bit in thy lips, and will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
You have been maddened against me, and your arrogance has ascended to my ears. And so, I will place a ring in your nose, and a bit between your lips. And I will lead you back along the way by which you came.
29 And, this unto thee, is the sign—Eating, this year, the growth of scattered seeds, and, in the second year, that which groweth after, —then, in the third year, sow ye and reap, plant ye vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof;
But as for you, Hezekiah, this shall be a sign: Eat this year whatever you will find, and in the second year, whatever may spring up of itself. But in the third year, sow and reap; plant vineyards, and eat from their fruit.
30 Then shall the escaped of the house of Judah that remain, again—take root downward, and bear fruit upward;
And whatever will have been left behind, from the house of Judah, shall send a root downward, and shall bear fruit upward.
31 For, out of Jerusalem, shall go forth a remnant, and that which hath escaped—out of Mount Zion, —the jealousy of Yahweh of hosts, will perform this.
Indeed, a remnant shall go forth from Jerusalem, and what may be saved shall go forth from mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall accomplish this.
32 Therefore—Thus, saith Yahweh, concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not enter this city, nor shoot there, an arrow, —nor attack it with shield, nor cast up against it, a mound;
For this reason, thus says the Lord about the king of the Assyrians: He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor overtake it with the shield, nor encircle it with fortifications.
33 By the way that he cometh in, by the same, shall he return, —and, into this city, shall he not enter, declareth Yahweh!
By the way that he came, so shall he return. And he shall not enter this city, says the Lord.
34 Thus will I throw a covering over this city, to save it, —for mine own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.
And I will protect this city, and I will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 And it came to pass, during that night, that the messenger of Yahweh went forth, and smote, in the camp of the Assyrians, a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And, when men arose early in the morning, lo! they were all, dead bodies!
And so it happened that, in the same night, an Angel of the Lord went and struck down, in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he had risen up, at first light, he saw all the bodies of the dead. And withdrawing, he went away.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria brake up, and went his way, and returned, —and remained in Nineveh.
And Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, returned and dwelled in Nineveh.
37 And it came to pass, as he was bowing down in the house of Nisroch his god, that, Adrammelech and Sharezer [his sons], smote him with the sword, howbeit, they, escaped into the land of Ararat, —and Esarhaddon his son, reigned, in his stead.
And while he was worshipping in the temple of his god, Nisroch, his sons, Adram-melech and Sharezer, struck him with the sword. And they fled into the land of the Armenians. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.
