2 Kings 19

Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah

¹Now when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. ²Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” ⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘The Lord says this: “Do not be fearful because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”

Sennacherib Defies God

⁸Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹When he heard them say about Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has come out to fight you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ¹¹Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? ¹²Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’ ”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “Lord, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt the living God. ¹⁷It is true, Lord; the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸and have hurled their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹But now, Lord our God, please, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.”

God’s Answer through Isaiah

²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.’ ²¹This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: ‘She, the virgin daughter of Zion, has shown contempt for you and mocked you; She, the daughter of Jerusalem, has shaken her head behind you!

²⁹‘Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what grows by itself, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³⁰The survivors that are left of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹For out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and survivors out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.

³²‘Therefore this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield nor heap up an assault ramp against it. ³³By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,” ’ declares the Lord. ³⁴‘For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”

³⁵Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of the 185,000 were dead. ³⁶So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁷Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.