Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance
(2 Kings 19:1–7)

1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and he entered the house of YHWH. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. 3And they said to him “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and contempt! For sons have come to the point of birth, and there is not strength for giving birth. 4Perhaps YHWH your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke the words that YHWH your God has heard. And lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

5And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said to them “Thus will you⁺ say to your⁺ master: Thus says YHWH, ‘Do not be afraid before the face of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Behold, I will put in him a spirit, and he will hear a rumor and return to his land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.’”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter
(2 Kings 19:8–13)

8And the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria making war against Libnah, for he had heard that he had set out from Lachish.

9And the king heard about Tirhakah king of Cush,† saying, “He has come out to make war with you.”

And when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Thus you⁺ will speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying,

‘Let not your God deceive you, whom you trust in him, saying: Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11For behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction†—and you, will you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them that my fathers have destroyed—as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer
(2 Kings 19:14–19)

14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of YHWH, and Hezekiah spread it out before the face of YHWH. 15And Hezekiah prayed to YHWH, saying,

16“O YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel, the One sitting above on the cherubim, You are God—You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17Incline, O YHWH, Your ear, and hear; open, O YHWH, Your eyes, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living God.

18Truly, O YHWH, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations and their lands, 19and have given their gods into the fire—for they are not gods, but only the work of the hands of man—wood and stone; and they have destroyed them.

20And now, O YHWH our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are God, O YHWH, You alone!†

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied
(2 Kings 19:20–34)

21And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says YHWH God of Israel: Because you have prayed to Me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that YHWH has spoken concerning him:

‘She despises you, and mocks you—

the virgin the daughter of Zion.

The daughter of Jerusalem

shakes the head behind you.

23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed,

and against whom have you raised the voice

and lifted on high your eyes?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

24By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord,

and you have said,

“By the multitude of my chariots

I have gone up

to the height of the mountains,

to the sides of Lebanon;

and I have cut down the tallest of its cedars,

the choicest of its cypress trees;†

and I have come to the height of its end,

the forest of its Carmel.

25I have dug,

and I have drunk foreign† water,

and I have dried up with the soles of my feet

all the rivers of Egypt.”

26Have you not heard?

Long ago I made it,

from days of old I formed it?

Now I am bringing it to pass,

that you should crash into heaps of ruins

fortified cities.

27And their dwellers, short of hand,

were dismayed and put to shame;

they have become a plant of the field

and green grass,

grass on the rooftops,

scorched† before it is grown.

28I have known and your sitting down and your going out and your coming in,

and your raging against Me.

29Because your raging against Me and your arrogance

have come up into My ears,

I will put My hook in your nose,

and My bridle on your lips,

and I will turn you back

to the way that you came by it.’

30And this is to you a sign:

This year you will eat

the aftergrowth,

and in the second year what springs forth,

and in the third year you will sow and reap

and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31And again will the surivors of the house of Judah,

those remaining,

take root beneath

and produce fruit above.

32For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,

and a survivor from Mount Zion;

the zeal of YHWH of Hosts

will do this.

33Therefore thus says YHWH concerning the king of Assyria:

‘He will not come into this city,

and he will not shoot an arrow there,

and not come before it with shields,

and not pour out against it a siege mound.

34By the way that he came, by it will he return,

and into this’ city he will not enter!

A declaration of YHWH.

35‘And I will cover over this city

to save it for My own sake,

and for the sake of David My servant.’”

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians
(2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chronicles 32:20–23)

36And the angel of YHWH went forth and killed in the camp of Assyria a hundred and eighty-five thousand; and they rose early in the morning, and behold—all of them were dead corpses.

37And he pulled out and went away, and Sennacherib king of Assyria returned and dwelt in Nineveh. 38And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sarezer his sons struck him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes:

9 That is, the upper Nile region
11 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
20 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:19); MT You alone are YHWH
24 Or pines or junipers or firs
25 DSS (see also 2 Kings 19:24); MT does not include foreign.
27 DSS, some MT manuscripts, and some LXX manuscripts (see also 2 Kings 19:26); most MT manuscripts on the rooftops and field