2 Kings 18:13-37

New International Version

¹³In the fourteenth year^(A) of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah^(B) and captured them. ¹⁴So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish:^(C) “I have done wrong.^(D) Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents^[b] of gold. ¹⁵So Hezekiah gave^(E) him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹⁶At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors^(F) and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(G)^(H)

¹⁷The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,^(I) his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool,^(J) on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ¹⁸They called for the king; and Eliakim^(K) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna^(L) the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

¹⁹The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence^(M) of yours? ²⁰You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹Look, I know you are depending on Egypt,^(N) that splintered reed of a staff,^(O) which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ²²But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

²³“‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! ²⁴How can you repulse one officer^(P) of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen^[c]? ²⁵Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?^(Q) The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

²⁶Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(R) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

²⁷But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

²⁸Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(S) you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

³¹“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(T) and drink water from your own cistern,^(U) ³²until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life^(V) and not death!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ ³³Has the god^(W) of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath^(X) and Arpad?^(Y) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ³⁵Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(Z)

³⁶But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

³⁷Then Eliakim^(AA) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(AB) and told him what the field commander had said.

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Footnotes

2 Kings 18:14 That is, about 11 tons or about 10 metric tons
2 Kings 18:14 That is, about 1 ton or about 1 metric ton
2 Kings 18:24 Or charioteers

2 Kings 19:20-37

New International Version

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall^(A)^(B)

²⁰Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard^(C) your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. ²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken against^(D) him:

“‘Virgin Daughter^(E) Zion
    despises^(F) you and mocks^(G) you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(H) as you flee.
²²Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(I)
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
    Against the Holy One^(J) of Israel!
²³By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,^(K)
    “With my many chariots^(L)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down^(M) its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest parts,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁴I have dug wells in foreign lands
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

²⁵“‘Have you not heard?^(N)
    Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned^(O) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(P)
²⁶Their people, drained of power,^(Q)
    are dismayed^(R) and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,^(S)
like grass sprouting on the roof,
    scorched^(T) before it grows up.

²⁷“‘But I know^(U) where you are
    and when you come and go
    and how you rage against me.
²⁸Because you rage against me
    and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook^(V) in your nose
    and my bit^(W) in your mouth,
and I will make you return^(X)
    by the way you came.’

²⁹“This will be the sign^(Y) for you, Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,^(Z)
    and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
    plant vineyards^(AA) and eat their fruit.
³⁰Once more a remnant^(AB) of the kingdom of Judah
    will take root^(AC) below and bear fruit above.
³¹For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^(AD)
    and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.^(AE)

“The zeal^(AF) of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

³²“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

“‘He will not enter this city
    or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
    or build a siege ramp against it.
³³By the way that he came he will return;^(AG)
    he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.
³⁴I will defend^(AH) this city and save it,
    for my sake and for the sake of David^(AI) my servant.’”

³⁵That night the angel of the Lord^(AJ) went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!^(AK) ³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew.^(AL) He returned to Nineveh^(AM) and stayed there.

³⁷One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek^(AN) and Sharezer killed him with the sword,^(AO) and they escaped to the land of Ararat.^(AP) And Esarhaddon^(AQ) his son succeeded him as king.

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2 Chronicles 32

New International Version

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(A)^(B)

32 After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib^(C) king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. ²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem,^(D) ³he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. ⁴They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs^(E) and the stream that flowed through the land. “Why should the kings^[a] of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they said. ⁵Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall^(F) and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the terraces^[b]^(G) of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons^(H) and shields.

⁶He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: ⁷“Be strong and courageous.^(I) Do not be afraid or discouraged^(J) because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.^(K) ⁸With him is only the arm of flesh,^(L) but with us^(M) is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”^(N) And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.

⁹Later, when Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces were laying siege to Lachish,^(O) he sent his officers to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah king of Judah and for all the people of Judah who were there:

¹⁰“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what are you basing your confidence,^(P) that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? ¹¹When Hezekiah says, ‘The Lord our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria,’ he is misleading^(Q) you, to let you die of hunger and thirst. ¹²Did not Hezekiah himself remove this god’s high places and altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar^(R) and burn sacrifices on it’?

¹³“Do you not know what I and my predecessors have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of those nations ever able to deliver their land from my hand?^(S) ¹⁴Who of all the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand? ¹⁵Now do not let Hezekiah deceive^(T) you and mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver^(U) his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors.^(V) How much less will your god deliver you from my hand!”

¹⁶Sennacherib’s officers spoke further against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷The king also wrote letters^(W) ridiculing^(X) the Lord, the God of Israel, and saying this against him: “Just as the gods^(Y) of the peoples of the other lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.” ¹⁸Then they called out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to terrify them and make them afraid in order to capture the city. ¹⁹They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world—the work of human hands.^(Z)

²⁰King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer^(AA) to heaven about this. ²¹And the Lord sent an angel,^(AB) who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword.^(AC)

²²So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them^[c] on every side. ²³Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord and valuable gifts^(AD) for Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations.

Hezekiah’s Pride, Success and Death^(AE)

²⁴In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.^(AF) ²⁵But Hezekiah’s heart was proud^(AG) and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath^(AH) was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶Then Hezekiah repented^(AI) of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.^(AJ)

²⁷Hezekiah had very great wealth and honor,^(AK) and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. ²⁸He also made buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil; and he made stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. ²⁹He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches.^(AL)

³⁰It was Hezekiah who blocked^(AM) the upper outlet of the Gihon^(AN) spring and channeled^(AO) the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. ³¹But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon^(AP) to ask him about the miraculous sign^(AQ) that had occurred in the land, God left him to test^(AR) him and to know everything that was in his heart.

³²The other events of Hezekiah’s reign and his acts of devotion are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³Hezekiah rested with his ancestors and was buried on the hill where the tombs of David’s descendants are. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem honored him when he died. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.