2 Kings 19

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

1 u As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, t he tore his clothes and v covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, v covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 w It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent x to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for y the remnant that is left." 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which z the servants of the king of Assyria have a reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that b he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him c fall by the sword in his own land.'"

Sennacherib Defies the Lord

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against d Libnah, for he heard that the king had left e Lachish. 9 f Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you." So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 "Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Do not let your God g in whom you trust deceive you by promising that h Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 i Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, j Gozan, k Haran, Rezeph, and the people of l Eden who were in Telassar? 13 m Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'"

Hezekiah's Prayer

14 Hezekiah received n the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: "O Lord, the God of Israel, o enthroned above the cherubim, p you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 q Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; r open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent s to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, t but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, u that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that p you, O Lord, are God alone."

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria v I have heard.

21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
"She despises you, she scorns you -
w the virgin daughter of Zion;
she x wags her head behind you -
the daughter of Jerusalem.

22 "Whom have you y mocked and z reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against a the Holy One of Israel!
23 b By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, c 'With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of d Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest lodging place,
its most e fruitful forest.
24 I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams f of Egypt.'

25 "Have you not heard
that g I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what h now I bring to pass,
that you should turn fortified cities
into heaps of ruins,
26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become i like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.

27 "But I know your sitting down
j and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
28 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will k put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and l I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.

29 "And this shall be m the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 n And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion o a band of survivors. p The zeal of the Lord will do this.

32 "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or q cast up a siege mound against it. 33 r By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 s For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake t and for the sake of my servant David."

35 And that night u the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at v Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, w Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

  1. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:1 - 37
    As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
    2 Chronicles 32:20 - 22
    Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven.
    Isaiah 37:1 - 38
    As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
  2. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:37
    Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
  3. Cross References
    2 Samuel 3:31
    Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." And King David followed the bier.
  4. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:1
    As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
  5. Cross References
    2 Samuel 16:12
    It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.
  6. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:16
    Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:9
    If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.
  8. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:17
    And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field.
  9. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:22 - 25
    But if you say to me, "We trust in the Lord our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?
    2 Kings 18:30 - 35
    Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
  10. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:9
    Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you." So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying.
  11. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:37
    And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
  12. Cross References
    Joshua 10:29
    Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to Libnah and fought against Libnah.
  13. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:14
    And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
    Joshua 10:31
    Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it.
  14. Cross References
    1 Samuel 23:27
    A messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.
  15. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:5
    He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
  16. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:30
    Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
  17. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:33
    Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
  18. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:6
    In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
  19. Cross References
    Genesis 11:31
    Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
    Ezekiel 27:23
    Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.
  20. Cross References
    Ezekiel 27:23
    Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.
    Amos 1:5
    I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the Lord.
  21. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:34
    Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
  22. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 32:17
    And he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, "Like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their people from my hands, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.
  23. Cross References
    Exodus 25:22
    There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
  24. Cross References
    1 Kings 18:39
    And when all the people saw it, they fell on th...
    Nehemiah 9:6
    You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heav...
    Psalms 86:10
    For you are great and do wondrous things; you a...
    Isaiah 37:16
    O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above...
    Isaiah 37:20
    So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, ...
    Isaiah 44:6
    Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his ...
    Jeremiah 10:10
    But the Lord is the true God; he is the living ...
    Jeremiah 10:12
    It is he who made the earth by his power, who e...
  25. Cross References
    Psalms 31:2
    Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
    Psalms 71:2
    In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me!
    Daniel 9:18
    O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
  26. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 6:40
    Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.
    Daniel 9:18
    O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
  27. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:4
    It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
  28. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 32:19
    And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands.
    Psalms 115:4
    Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
  29. Cross References
    Joshua 4:24
    So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
    Psalms 83:18
    That they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
  30. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:15
    And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: "O Lord, the 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.
  31. Cross References
    2 Kings 20:5
    Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
  32. Cross References
    Lamentations 2:13
    What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?
  33. Cross References
    Job 16:4
    I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
    Psalms 22:7
    All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads.
    Psalms 109:25
    I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.
    Lamentations 2:15
    All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?
  34. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:4
    It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
  35. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:6
    Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the Lord : Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
  36. Cross References
    Psalms 71:22
    I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
    Isaiah 5:24
    Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
    Isaiah 60:9
    For the coastlands shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.
    Jeremiah 51:5
    For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord of hosts, but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
  37. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:17
    And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field.
  38. Cross References
    Psalms 20:7
    Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
  39. Cross References
    Judges 9:15
    And the bramble said to the trees, 'If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
  40. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 26:10
    And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
    Isaiah 10:18
    The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
  41. Cross References
    Isaiah 19:6
    And its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.
  42. Cross References
    Isaiah 45:7
    I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.
  43. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:5
    Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!
  44. Cross References
    Psalms 129:6
    Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up.
  45. Cross References
    1 Samuel 29:6
    Then Achish called David and said to him, "As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you.
  46. Cross References
    Ezekiel 29:4
    I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales; and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams, with all the fish of your streams that stick to your scales.
    Ezekiel 38:4
    And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords.
    Job 41:2
    Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
    Isaiah 30:28
    His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
    Amos 4:2
    The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
  47. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:33
    By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.
    2 Kings 19:36
    Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.
  48. Cross References
    2 Kings 20:8 - 9
    And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?
    1 Samuel 2:34
    And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.
    Isaiah 7:11
    "Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven."
    Isaiah 7:14
    Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  49. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 32:22 - 23
    So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side.
  50. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:20
    In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
  51. Cross References
    Isaiah 9:7
    Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
  52. Cross References
    2 Samuel 20:15
    And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down.
  53. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:28
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
  54. Cross References
    2 Kings 20:6
    And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
    Isaiah 31:5
    Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.
  55. Cross References
    1 Kings 11:13
    However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.
  56. Cross References
    Exodus 12:23
    For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
    2 Samuel 24:16
    And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
  57. Cross References
    Genesis 10:11
    From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and
    Jonah 1:2
    "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me."
  58. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:31
    And the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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