14 And Hezekiah received the letter from 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, who dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16 LORD, bow down thy ear, and hear: open, LORD, thy eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, who 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. [1]
19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us from 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 mocked thee; 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 thy 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 its tall cedar trees, and its choice fir trees: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel. [2] [3] [4]
24 I have dug and drank strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. [5]
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 fortified cities in ruinous heaps. [6]
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 housetops, and as grain blighted before it is grown up. [7]
27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. [8]
28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into my 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 to 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 of it.
30 And the remnant that hath escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. [9]
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape from mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. [10]
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 my 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 and eighty and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies.
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. [11]
CHAP. 20.
1 In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. [12]
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying,
3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept grievously. [13]
4 And it came to pass, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, [14]
5 Return, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy
- ↑ cast: Heb. given
- ↑ By: Heb. By the hand of
- ↑ tall...: Heb. tallness, etc
- ↑ of his Carmel: or, and his fruitful field
- ↑ besieged: or, fenced
- ↑ long...: or, how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? should I now bring it to be laid waste, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps?
- ↑ of small...: Heb. short of hand
- ↑ abode: or, sitting
- ↑ remnant...: Heb. escaping of the house of Judah that remaineth
- ↑ they...: Heb. the escaping
- ↑ Armenia: Heb. Ararat
- ↑ Set...: Heb. Give charge concerning thine house
- ↑ sore: Heb. with a great weeping
- ↑ court: or, city
