2 Chronicles 32:1 Cross References - ISV

¹ Sennacherib Invades Judah
After all of these acts of faithfulness occurred, King Sennacherib of Assyria came, invaded Judah, and laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself.

¹⁹ Later on, King Pul of Aram attacked the land, and Menahem paid Pul 1,000 silver talents so Pul would join forces with Menahem to secure his hold on the kingdom.

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes,

¹³ During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I’ll accept whatever tribute you impose.” So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD’s Temple and from the treasuries in the king’s palace. ¹⁶ At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD’s Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria.
¹⁷ Assyria’s King Taunts Hezekiah
Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army. ¹⁸ When they called for the king, Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebnah the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder went out to them. ¹⁹ Rab-shakeh told them, “Tell Hezekiah right now, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: ‘“Why are you so confident? ²⁰ You’re saying—but they’re only empty words—‘I have enough advice and resources to conduct warfare!’‘“Now who are you relying on, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ Look, you’re trusting on Egypt to lean on like a staff, but it’s a crushed reed, and if you lean on it, it will collapse and pierce your hand. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who relies on him! ²² ‘“Of course, you might tell me, “We rely on the LORD our God!” But isn’t it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, “You’re to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?”’ ²³ ‘“Come now, and make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria, and I’ll give you 2,000 horses, if you can furnish them with riders. ²⁴ How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ “Now then, haven’t I come up—apart from the LORD—to attack and destroy this place? The LORD told me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it!’”’”
²⁶ At this, Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, Shebnah, and Joah asked Rab-shakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it, but don’t speak the language of Judah to us within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
²⁷ But Rab-shakeh spoke to them, “Has my master sent me to talk about this just to your master and to you, and not also to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will soon be eating their own feces and drinking their own urine—along with you?” ²⁸ Then Rab-shakeh stood up and cried out loud, “Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. ²⁹ This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, because he will prove to be unable to deliver you from my control. ³⁰ And don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by telling you, “The LORD will certainly deliver us and this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ³¹ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and come out to me! Each of you will eat from his own vine. Each will eat from his own fig tree. And each of you will drink water from his own cistern ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, one overflowing with grain and new wine, a land filled with bread and vineyards, with olive trees and honey, so you may live and not die.” ‘But don’t listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us!” ³³ Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from control by the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my control? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?’”
³⁶ But the people remained silent and did not answer with even so much as a word, because the king’s order was, “Don’t answer him.”
³⁷ But Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who managed the household, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came back to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rab-shakeh had said.

¹ Judah is Invaded UnexpectedlySometime after these events, the Moabites and the Ammonites, accompanied by some other descendants of Ammon, attacked Jehoshaphat and started a war. ² Jehoshaphat’s military advisors came and informed him, “We’ve been attacked by a vast invasion force from Aram, beyond the Dead Sea. Be advised—they’ve already reached Hazazon-tamar, also known as En-gedi.”

¹⁷ Conquest by Assyria“The LORD will bring to you, to your people, and to your ancestor’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim broke away from Judah—the king of Assyria will come.
¹⁸ “At that time, the LORD will call for flies that will come from far away—from the headwaters of Egypt’s rivers—and for bees that are in the land of Assyria.

⁶ “Because this people have rejected the gently-flowing waters of Shiloah, and because they keep rejoicing in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, ⁷ watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.
“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. ⁸ He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

⁵ Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment“How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands! ⁶ I’m sending my fury against a godless nation, and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. ⁷ But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations. ⁸ “Because this is what he is saying: ‘My commanders are all kings, are they not? ⁹ Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, ¹¹ will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?’”

¹ Sennacherib AttacksIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ² Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander, along with a very large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the field commander stopped at the aqueduct at the Upper Pool on the road to Laundryman’s Field, ³ Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, went out to him.
⁴ The field commander told them: “Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, ‘This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this “guarantee” that makes you yourself rely on it? ⁵ Do you really think that guarantees alone can withstand strategy and military strength? On whom are you now depending, that you’re rebelling against me? ⁶ Take note: you’re relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like to everybody who depends on him! ⁷ But if you all say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem’? ⁸ Come now, all of you, make a bet with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you can furnish riders for them! ⁹ How, then, can you repulse even one officer from the least of my master’s officials, when you are depending for yourselves on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰ One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself ordered me, ‘March against this country to destroy it.’”
¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah replied to him, “Please speak with your servants—with us—in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew where the people sitting on the wall can hear.”
¹² But the field commander asked, “Was it only to all of you and to your master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn’t it also to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
¹³ Then the commander stood up and shouted out loud in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ This is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you—for he cannot save you! ¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the LORD when he says, “The LORD will really deliver us!” and “This city will never be handed over to the king of Assyria!” ¹⁶ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then everyone will eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and everyone will drink water from his own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—to a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’ ¹⁸ Be careful not to let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The LORD will save us.” Has any god of any nation ever delivered his country from the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these countries has delivered their land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from me?’”
²¹ But the people remained silent and didn’t respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, “Don’t answer him.”
²² Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said.

¹ Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s CounselAs soon as Hezekiah the king heard this, he tore his clothes, dressed himself in sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s Temple. ² Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all wearing sackcloth, to Amoz’s son, the prophet Isaiah. ³ “Here is what Hezekiah says,” they told him. “This day is a day of trouble, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no energy to deliver them. ⁴ Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and perhaps he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives in this city.” ⁵ That’s why King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah.
⁶ Isaiah Responds to Hezekiah“Here is what to tell your master,” Isaiah told them. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Don’t be afraid of the words you’ve heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me. ⁷ Watch this! I’m going to place an attitude within him, so that when he hears a certain report, he’ll return to his own country. Then I’ll have him cut down by the sword in his own land.”
⁸ Sennacherib RetreatsSo the field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, since he had heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish. ⁹ Now King Sennacherib had received this report concerning King Tirhakah of Cush: “He has marched out to fight against you.”
When he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah: ¹⁰ “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God on whom you depend deceive you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them—the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, or of Hena, or of Ivvah, or of Samaria?’”
¹⁴ Hezekiah PraysHezekiah received the letters from the messengers, and read them. Then he went up to the LORD’s Temple and spread the letters in front of the LORD. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶ “O LORD of the Heavenly Armies, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Extend your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and look! Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ It is true, LORD, that Assyrian kings have devastated all these countries, ¹⁹ and have thrown their gods into the fire—but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them. ²⁰ So now, LORD our God, save us from his oppressive hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”
²¹ God’s AnswerThen Amoz’s son Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, to whom you prayed concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²² This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: “‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem— she tosses her head behind you as you flee. ²³ Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. ²⁵ I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.” ²⁶ “‘Didn’t you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I’ve made it happen— that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. ²⁷ Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They’ve become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ²⁸ “‘I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings— and how you’ve become enraged at me. ²⁹ Your insolence has reached my ears, so I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I’ll make you turn back on the road by which you came.
³⁰ “And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.
³³ “Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He won’t enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield. ³⁴ By the same way that he came, he will return; he won’t enter this city,’ declares the LORD, ³⁵ ‘because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!’”
³⁶ Sennacherib is DefeatedAfter this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah’s army awakened in the morning—there were all the dead bodies!
³⁷ King Sennacherib broke camp, retreated, returned home to Nineveh, and remained there. ³⁸ Later, while he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with swords and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then Sennacherib’s son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

⁵ “They will not return to the land of Egypt; instead, the Assyrian will be their king, because they kept refusing to repent.

¹³ God will stand up and break through in their presence. Then they will pass through the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass in front of them with the LORD at their head.”