International Standard Version

King James Bible

1When King Hezekiah heard Eliakim's report, he tore his clothes, put on a sackcloth covering, entered the LORD's Temple,

1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2and sent Eliakim the household supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests—all of them covered in sackcloth—to Amoz's son, the prophet Isaiah.

2And he sent Eliakim, which 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.

3They announced to him: "This is what Hezekiah says: 'Today is a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength to bring them to birth.

3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4Perhaps the LORD your God will take note of everything that Rab-shakeh has said, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to taunt the living God, and then he will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the survivors who remain.'"

4It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

5That is how the King Hezekiah's servants approached Isaiah.

5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6In reply, Isaiah responded to them, "Here's how you're to report to your master: 'This is what the LORD says: "Never be afraid of the words that you have heard by which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7Look! I'm going to cause an attitude to grow within him so that he'll hear a rumor and return to his own territory, where I'll make him die by the sword in his own land!"'"

7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8So Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria at war with Libnah, because Rab-shakeh had heard that the king had left Lachish.

8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9When he heard that it was being said about King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, "Look! He has come out to attack you!" he again sent messengers to Hezekiah. The messengers were told,

9And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

10"This is what you are to say to King Hezekiah of Judah: 'Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you by telling you "Jerusalem won't be turned over to the control of Assyria's king."

10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11Look! you've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands—they completely destroyed them! Will you be spared?

11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

12Did the gods of those nations whom my ancestors destroyed deliver them, including Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden's descendants in Telassar?

12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephar-vaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

14Hezekiah took the messages from the couriers, read them, went up to the LORD's Temple, and laid them out in the presence of the LORD.

14And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

15Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, "LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth.

15And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

16Turn your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God!

16LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

17Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories,

17Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

18throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren't gods but rather were the product of men's handiwork—wood and stone. And so they destroyed them.

18And 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.

19Now, LORD our God, I'm praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!"

19Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

20Then Amoz's son Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Because you have prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria, I have listened.'"

20Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

21"This is what the LORD has spoken against him: 'She despises and mocks you, this virgin daughter of Zion! Behind your back she shakes her head, this daughter of Jerusalem!

21This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

22Who are you reproaching and blaspheming? Against whom have you raised your voice? And against whom have you lifted up your eyes in arrogance? Against the Holy One of Israel!

22Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

23By your messengers you have insulted the LORD. You have claimed, "With my many chariots I ascended the heights of the mountains, including the remotest regions of Lebanon; I cut down its tall cedars and the best of its cypress trees. I entered its most remote lodging place and its most fruitful forest.

23By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

24I myself dug for and drank foreign water. With the sole of my foot I dried up all the streams of Egypt!"

24I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

25Didn't you hear? I determined it years ago! I planned this from ancient times, and now I've brought it to pass, to turn fortified cities into piles of ruins

25Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

26while their inhabitants, lacking strength, stand dismayed and confused. They were like vegetation out in the fields, and like green herbs— just as grass that grows on a housetop dries out before it can grow.

26Therefore 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 corn blasted before it be grown up.

27But when you sit down, when you go out, and when you come in, I'm aware of it!

27But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

28Because of your rage against me, your complacency has reached my ears. I'll put my hook into your nostrils and my bit into your mouth. Then I'll turn you back on the road by which you came.'

28Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

29"This will serve as a sign for you: you'll eat this year from what grows by itself, in the second year what grows from that, and in the third year you'll sow, reap, plant vineyards, and enjoy their fruit.

29And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

30Those who survive from Judah's household will again put down deep roots and bear fruit extensively,

30And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

31because a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD will bring this about."

31For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

32"Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: 'Not only will he not approach this city or shoot an arrow in its direction, he won't approach it with so much as a shield, nor will he throw up a siege ramp against it.

32Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

33He'll return on the same route by which he came—he won't come to this city,' declares the LORD.

33By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

34I will defend this city and preserve it for my own reasons, and because of my servant David.'"

34For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

35That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead.

35And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36As a result, King Sennacherib of Assyria left and returned to Nineveh where he lived.

36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37Later on, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword and fled into the territory of Ararat. Then Sennacherib's son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

37And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.