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          DASV: 2 Kings 19    

1 When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, and
put on sackcloth, and went into the temple of the LORD.
2 He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace,
and Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests,
clothed with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet
the son of Amoz.
3 They said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says,
'This is a day of trouble, insults and humiliation;
like when children are ready to be born, but
there is no strength to bring them out.
4 It may be the LORD your God will hear all the
words of the chief adviser, whom his master the
king of Assyria sent to mock the living God.
When the LORD your God hears maybe he will
punish them. Therefore pray for the remnant
that is left.'"

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah said to them, "This is what you shall
tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says,
"Do not be not afraid of the words that you
have heard, by which the servants of the
king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 I will put a spirit in him, so he will hear
a rumor, and will return to his own land.
I will cause him to be killed by the sword
in his own land."'"

8 So the chief adviser returned, and found
the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah;
for he heard that the king had left Lachish.
9 When he heard the report concerning Tirhakah
king of Ethiopia, "He is come out to fight
against you," he sent messengers again to
Hezekiah, saying,
10 "Tell Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Let not your
God in whom you trust deceive you, saying,
'Jerusalem will not be given into the hand
of the king of Assyria.'
11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands, by totally destroying
them and you think you will be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations my forefather
destroyed rescued them--Gozan, Haran, Rezeph,

and the people of Eden that were in Tel-assar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad,
the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?"

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand
of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah
went up to the temple of the LORD and spread
it before the LORD.
15 Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, "O LORD,
the God of Israel, who sits enthroned between
the cherubim. You are God alone of all the
kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven
and earth.
16 Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen. Open
your eyes, O LORD, and see. Hear the words of
Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
17 It is true, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have
laid waste the nations and their lands.
18 They have cast their gods into the fire;
for they were not real gods, but wood and stone
crafted by men's hands. Therefore they were
destroyed.

19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beg you, save
us out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of
the earth may know that you LORD are God alone."
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah,
saying, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel,
says, 'I have heard your prayer against Sennacherib
king of Assyria.
21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken
concerning him: 'The virgin daughter of Zion despises
and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in contempt as you flee.
22 Whom have you mocked and blasphemed? Against
whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your
eyes in arrogance? It was against the Holy One of
Israel.
23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and have said, 'With my many chariots I have
conquered the height of the mountains, to the
remote parts of Lebanon. I have cut down its
tallest cedars, and its finest cypress trees.
I have entered its farthest lodging place,
its thickest forest.
24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and
with the soles of my feet I dried up all the
rivers of Egypt.'
25 Haven't you heard how I did it long ago,
and determined it in ancient times? Now I
have made it happen, so that you would smash
fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
26 Their inhabitants are drained of strength,
they are dismayed and confused. They are
scorched like the grass of the field, green
vegetables, grass on the rooftops, and
like grain before it has time to grow up.
27 But I know your sitting down, your going
out and coming in, and your raging against me.
28 Because you rage against me, and because
your arrogance has come up to my ears,
therefore will I put my hook in your nose,
and my bridle in your mouth, and I will lead
you back the way you came.
29 This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:
'You will eat this year that which grows
by itself, and in the second year that which
grows up on its own you'll eat. In the third
year sow, reap and plant vineyards and eat
their fruit.
30 Then the surviving remnant of the house
of Judah will again take root downward, and
produce fruit upward.
31 A remnant will go out of Jerusalem, and
from Mount Zion survivors will escape.
The zeal of the LORD will do this.'
32 Therefore this is what the LORD says
concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not
come to this city, shoot an arrow here,
come before it with a shield, or build a
siege ramp against it.
33 He will go back by the same way he came.
He will not come to this city,' says the LORD.
34 For I will defend this city to save it,
for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant
David."

35 So it happened that night, that the angel
of the LORD went out, and killed 185,000 in
the camp of the Assyrians. When men got up
early in the morning, there were all the dead
bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria withdrew,
returned home and lived at Nineveh.
37 One day when he was worshipping in the temple
of his god Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer
assassinated him with the sword. They
escaped into the land of Ararat. His son
Esarhaddon reigned in his place.

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