2 Kings 19

God Saves Jerusalem from Assyria

1 When King Hezekiah heard all that mess, he ripped his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the Lord’s temple.

2 He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the senior priests, all draped in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz.

3 They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: 'This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disrespect. It is like kids are about to be born, but there is no strength to deliver them.'"

4 "'Maybe the Lord your God will hear all the trash talk of the Rabshakeh, whom his boss, the king of Assyria, sent to disrespect the living God, and maybe the Lord your God will hit him for the words He heard. So lift up a prayer for the few of us who are left!'"

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 Isaiah told them, "Tell your boss, 'This is what the Lord says: "Do not be scared of the words you heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have disrespected Me."'"

7 "'Look, I am going to put a spirit in him, and he is going to hear a rumor and bounce back to his own land. And I am going to make him fall by the sword in his own land.'"

8 Then the Rabshakeh bounced back and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that the king had dipped from Lachish.

9 Now, Sennacherib heard a report about King Tirhakah of Cush, saying, "Look, he came out to fight against you." So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,

10 "Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this: 'Do not let your God, in whom you trust, trick you by saying, "Jerusalem is not going to be handed over to the king of Assyria."'"

11 "'Look, you heard what the kings of Assyria did to all lands by totally wiping them out. And you are going to be saved, '"

12 "'Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed save them, like Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar, '"

13 "'Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah, '"

Hezekiah Prays

14 Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers' hand and read them. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread them out before the Lord.

15 Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, "Lord, God of Israel, You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth."

16 "Bend Your ear, Lord, and hear! Open Your eyes, Lord, and see! Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he sent to disrespect the living God!"

17 "It is true, Lord, the kings of Assyria have wiped out the nations and their lands."

18 "And they threw their gods into the fire, because they were not real gods, just stuff made by human hands, wood and stone. So they destroyed them."

19 "But now, Lord our God, please save us from his hand, so all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You alone, Lord, are God."

Isaiah’s Prophecy

20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I heard your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria.'"

21 "'This is the word the Lord spoke against him: "The virgin daughter of Zion looks down on you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back."'"

22 "'Who did you disrespect and talk trash about, Against whom did you raise your voice and lift your proud eyes, Against the Holy One of Israel!'"

23 "'Through your messengers, you disrespected the Lord and said, "With my many chariots, I climbed the highest mountains, to the far reaches of Lebanon. I chopped down its tallest cedars and its finest cypresses. I reached its highest lodging place, its densest forest."'"

24 "'I dug wells and drank foreign waters. With the sole of my foot, I dried up all the streams of Egypt.'"

25 "'Did you not hear, Long ago I planned it. In days gone by, I formed it. Now I brought it to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.'"

26 "'Therefore, their inhabitants had no power; they were dismayed and shamed. They were like grass in the field and tender shoots, like grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.'"

27 "'But I know your coming and going, your raging against Me.'"

28 "'Because you raged against Me, and your arrogance came to My ears, I am going to put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth, and I am going to make you bounce back the way you came!'"

29 "And this will be the sign for you: 'This year you are going to eat what grows by itself, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year, you are going to plant and harvest, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.'"

30 "And the survivors of the house of Judah who are left will again take root downward and bear fruit upward."

31 "For from Jerusalem will come a remnant, and from Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this."

32 "Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: 'He is not going to come into this city or shoot an arrow here. He is not going to come before it with a shield or build a siege ramp against it.'"

33 "'He is going to go back the way he came. He is not going to come into this city,' declares the Lord."

34 "'For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My boy David’s sake.'"

Sennacherib’s Death

35 That night, the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When people got up early in the morning, look, all of them were dead bodies.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria bounced, broke camp, and went back and lived in Nineveh.

37 And it happened, as he was bowing down in the temple of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. They fled to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon took over as king.