13. Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib
king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of
Judah, and took them.
14. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to
Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which
thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria
appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents
of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the
house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.
16. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of
the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah
king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of
Assyria.
17. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and
Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host
against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem.
And when they were come up, they came and stood by the
conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the
fuller's field.
18. And when they had called to the king, there came out to them
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household,
and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the
recorder.
19. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus
saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence
is this wherein thou trustest?
20. Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel
and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that
thou rebellest against me?
21. Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised
reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go
into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt
unto all that trust on him.
22. But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not
that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath
taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall
worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
23. Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king
of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if
thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
24. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the
least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt
for chariots and for horsemen?
25. Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to
destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land,
and destroy it.
26. Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah,
unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the
Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us
in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on
the wall.
27. But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy
master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent
me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their
own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
28. Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the
great king, the king of Assyria:
29. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
30. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The
LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria,
Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me,
and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of
his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his
cistern:
32. Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a
land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not
die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you,
saying, The LORD will deliver us.
33. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34. Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the
gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered
Samaria out of mine hand?
35. Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have
delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD
should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
36. But the people held their peace, and answered him not a
word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him
not.
37. Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph
the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told
him the words of Rabshakeh.
Chapter 19
1. And 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.
2. And 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.
3. And 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.
4. It 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.
5. So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6. And 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.
7. Behold, 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.
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 is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers
again unto Hezekiah, saying,
10. Thus 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.
11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done
to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be
delivered?
12. Have 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?
13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
14. And 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.
15. And 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.
16. LORD, 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.
17. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed 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 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.
20. Then 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 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.
22. Whom 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.
23. By 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.
24. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of
my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25. Hast 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.
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 house
tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in,
and thy rage against me.
28. Because 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. And 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.
30. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall
yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31. For 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 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.
33. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
34. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake,
and for my servant David's sake.
35. And 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.
36. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and
returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37. And 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.
