MLV(i)
1 And it happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of Jehovah.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who 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.
3 And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy, for the sons have come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth. 4 It may be that Jehovah your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God and will rebuke the words which Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus you* will say to your* master, Jehovah says thus, Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news and will return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he comes out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus will you* speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. And will you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden that were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah and spread it before Jehovah. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah and said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Jehovah and hear. Open your eyes, O Jehovah and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent for him to defy the living God.
17 Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and 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. 19 Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, I beseech you, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you Jehovah are God alone.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. 21 This is the word that Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it and the choice fir trees of it. And I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field. 24 I have dug and drunk strange waters and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
25 Have you not heard how I have done it from afar and formed it of times long-ago? Now I have made it occur, that you should be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26 Therefore 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 housetops and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
27 But I know your sitting down and your going out and your coming in and your raging against me. 28 Because of your raging against me and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
29 And this will be the sign to you: You* will eat this year what grows of itself and in the second year what springs of the same. And in the third year sow you* and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of it. 30 And the remnant that has escaped from the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion those who will escape. The zeal of Jehovah will perform this.
32 Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning the king of Assyria, He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same will he return and he will not come to this city, says Jehovah. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it happened that night, that the messenger of Jehovah went forth and killed* in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it happened, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed* him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned instead of him.
3 And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy, for the sons have come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth. 4 It may be that Jehovah your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God and will rebuke the words which Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, Thus you* will say to your* master, Jehovah says thus, Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news and will return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he comes out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus will you* speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. And will you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden that were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah and spread it before Jehovah. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah and said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O Jehovah and hear. Open your eyes, O Jehovah and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent for him to defy the living God.
17 Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and 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. 19 Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, I beseech you, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you Jehovah are God alone.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. 21 This is the word that Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it and the choice fir trees of it. And I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field. 24 I have dug and drunk strange waters and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
25 Have you not heard how I have done it from afar and formed it of times long-ago? Now I have made it occur, that you should be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26 Therefore 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 housetops and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
27 But I know your sitting down and your going out and your coming in and your raging against me. 28 Because of your raging against me and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
29 And this will be the sign to you: You* will eat this year what grows of itself and in the second year what springs of the same. And in the third year sow you* and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of it. 30 And the remnant that has escaped from the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion those who will escape. The zeal of Jehovah will perform this.
32 Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning the king of Assyria, He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same will he return and he will not come to this city, says Jehovah. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it happened that night, that the messenger of Jehovah went forth and killed* in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it happened, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed* him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned instead of him.