HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 716
2 KIN G S 1 9
rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands
of the Assyrian king!’
31 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the
terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace
with me—open the gates and come out. Then
each of you can continue eating from your own
grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your
own well. 32 Then I will arrange to take you to
another land like this one—a land of grain and
new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves
and honey. Choose life instead of death!
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to
mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue
us!’ 33 Have the gods of any other nations ever
saved their people from the king of Assyria?
34 What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim,
Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria
from my power? 35 What god of any nation
has ever been able to save its people from my
power? So what makes you think that the Lord
can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
36 But the people were silent and did not utter
a word because Hezekiah had commanded
them, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace
administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and
Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went
back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told
him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.
Hezekiah Seeks the LORD’s Help
When King Hezekiah heard their report,
he tore his clothes and put on burlap
and went into the Temple of the Lord. 2 And he
sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna
the court secretary, and the leading priests, all
dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of
Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults,
and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to
be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 4 But perhaps the Lord your God
has heard the Assyrian chief of staff,* sent by
the king to defy the living God, and will punish
him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who
are left!”
5 After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered
the king’s message to Isaiah, 6 the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the
Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian
king’s messengers. 7 Listen! I myself will move
against him,* and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return
to his land, where I will have him killed with
a sword.’”
8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria,
who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
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9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received
word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia* was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving
to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to
Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of
Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you
trust, deceive you with promises that
Jerusalem will not be captured by the king
of Assyria. 11 You know perfectly well what
the kings of Assyria have done wherever
they have gone. They have completely
destroyed everyone who stood in their way!
Why should you be any different? 12 Have the
gods of other nations rescued them—such
nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the
people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My
predecessors destroyed them all! 13 What
happened to the king of Hamath and the
king of Arpad? What happened to the kings
of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 After Hezekiah received the letter from
the messengers and read it, he went up to the
Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the
Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are
enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You
alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth.
You alone created the heavens and the earth.
16 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your
eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s
words of defiance against the living God.
17 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria
have destroyed all these nations. 18 And they
have thrown the gods of these nations into the
fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods
at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped
by human hands. 19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms
of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord,
are God.”
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message
to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God
of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about
King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 And the Lord
has spoken this word against him:
“The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in derision as you flee.
22
“Whom have you been defying and
ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your
voice?
19:4 Or the rabshakeh; also in 19:8. 19:7 Hebrew I will put a
spirit in him. 19:9 Hebrew of Cush.