1 ARST When King Hezekiah heard what they reported, he tore his clothes and put on clothes made of rough sackcloth because he was very distressed. Then he went into the temple of Yahweh and prayed. BSB BSB: On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
2 ARST Then he sent Eliakim, Shebna, and the older priests, who were also wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, to talk to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz. BSB BSB: And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz
3 ARST They told him,“Say this to Isaiah:‘King Hezekiah says that this is a day when we have great distress. Other nations are insulting and shaming us. We are like a woman who is about to give birth to a baby, but she does not have the strength that she needs to do it. BSB BSB: to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
4 ARST But perhaps Yahweh our God has heard what the official from Assyria said. Perhaps God knows that the king of Assyria has sent his official to insult him, the all- powerful God. Perhaps Yahweh will punish the king of Assyria for what he said. And I, Hezekiah, request that you pray for the few of us who are still alive here in Jerusalem.’” BSB BSB: Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
5 ARST After those men gave Isaiah that message, BSB BSB: So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
6 ARST he told them to say to the king that Yahweh says:“Those lackeys from the king of Assyria have said evil things about me. But do not let them worry you. BSB BSB: who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 ARST Listen to this: I will make Sennacherib hear some news from his own country that will worry him very much. So he will go back there, and I will make other men to assassinate him with their swords.” BSB BSB: Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
8 ARST The official from Assyria learned that his king and the army of Assyria had left the city of Lachish and were now attacking Libnah, a nearby city. So the official left Jerusalem and went to Libnah to report to the king what had happened in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9 ARST Soon after that, King Sennacherib received a report that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading his army to attack them. So he sent other messengers to Hezekiah with a letter. In the letter he wrote this to Hezekiah: BSB BSB: Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 ARST “Do not allow your god, on whom you are relying, to deceive you by promising that he will keep my army from capturing Jerusalem.” BSB BSB: “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 ARST You have certainly heard what the armies of the kings of Assyria before me did to all the other countries; our armies destroyed them completely. So you really do not think that you will escape from me, do you? BSB BSB: Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared?
12 ARST Did the gods of those nations rescue them? Did they rescue the region of Gozan, or the cities of Haran and Rezeph in northern Aram, or the people of the region of Eden in the city of Tel Assar? BSB BSB: Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?
13 ARST What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did their gods rescue them?” BSB BSB: Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
14 ARST Hezekiah received the letter that the messengers gave him, and he read it. Then he went up to the temple and spread out the letter in front of Yahweh. BSB BSB: So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
15 ARST Then Hezekiah prayed this: BSB BSB: And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:
16 ARST “Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, the God to whom we Israelites belong, you are seated on your throne above the statues of the cherubim, above the sacred chest. Only you are truly God. You rule all the kingdoms on this earth. You are the one who created everything on the earth and in the sky. BSB BSB: “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17 ARST So, Yahweh, please listen to what I am saying, and look at what is happening! And listen to what Sennacherib has said to insult you, the all- powerful God! BSB BSB: Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
18 ARST Yahweh, it is true that the armies of the kings of Assyria have completely destroyed many nations and ruined their land. BSB BSB: Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands.
19 ARST And they have thrown all the idols of those nations into fires and burned them. But they were not really gods. They were only idols made of wood and stone, and that is why they were able to be destroyed. BSB BSB: They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
20 ARST So now, Yahweh our God, please rescue us from the power of the king of Assyria, in order that the people in all the kingdoms of the world may know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is truly God.” BSB BSB: And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
21 ARST Then Isaiah sent a message to tell Hezekiah that Yahweh, whom the Israelites worshiped, said this to him:“Because you prayed about what King Sennacherib of Assyria said, BSB BSB: Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 ARST this is what I say to him:‘The people of Jerusalem despise you and make fun of you. They will wag their heads to mock you while you flee from here. BSB BSB: this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
23 ARST Who do you think you have been despising and ridiculing? Who do you think you were shouting at? Who do you think you were looking at very proudly? It was I, the Holy One whom the Israelites worship! BSB BSB: Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 ARST The messengers whom you sent made fun of me. You said,“With my many chariots I have gone to the highest mountains, to the highest mountains in Lebanon. We have cut down its tallest cedar trees and its nicest pine trees. We have been to the most distant peaks and to its densest forests. BSB BSB: Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.
25 ARST We have dug wells in many countries and drunk water from them. And by marching through the streams of Egypt, we dried them all up!” BSB BSB: I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
26 ARST But I reply to him,‘Have you never heard that long ago I determined those things; I planned it long ago, and now I have been causing it to occur. I planned that your army would destroy cities and cause them to become piles of rubble. BSB BSB: Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
27 ARST The people in those cities have no power, and as a result they are dismayed and discouraged. They are as frail as grass and plants in the fields, as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses and is scorched by the hot east wind. BSB BSB: Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
28 ARST But I know everything about you; I know when you are in your house and when you go outside; I also know that you are raging against me. BSB BSB: But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.
29 ARST So because you have raged against me and because I have heard you speak very proudly, it will be as though I will put a hook in your nose and an iron bit in your mouth in order that I can take you where I wish, and I will force you to return to your own country, on the same road on which you came here, without conquering Jerusalem.’” BSB BSB: Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
30 ARST “This will prove to you, Hezekiah that it is I, Yahweh, who will make all this happen: This year, you will eat only the crops that grow by themselves, and next year the same thing will happen. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will take care of your vineyards and eat the grapes. BSB BSB: And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 ARST You people who are still here in Judah, will be strong and prosper again. BSB BSB: And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
32 ARST A small number of my people will survive, and they will spread out from Jerusalem. That will happen because Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, is desiring very much to accomplish it.” BSB BSB: For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
33 ARST “This is what Yahweh says about the king of Assyria:‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem; they will not even shoot a single arrow into it. His soldiers will not bring one shield up to Jerusalem, and they will not build high mounds of dirt against the walls of the city to enable them to attack the city. BSB BSB: So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
34 ARST Instead, their king will return to his own country on the same road on which he came here. He will not enter this city! That will happen because I, Yahweh, have said it! BSB BSB: He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city,’ declares the LORD.
35 ARST For the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised King David, who served me well, I will defend this city and prevent it from being destroyed.’” BSB BSB: ‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
36 ARST That night, an angel from Yahweh went out to where the army of Assyria had set up their tents and killed 185, 000 of their soldiers. When the rest of the soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw that there were corpses everywhere. BSB BSB: Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
37 ARST Then King Sennacherib left and returned home to Nineveh in Assyria and stayed there. BSB BSB: So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
38 ARST One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his two sons, Adrammelek and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. Then they escaped and went to the region of Ararat northwest of Nineveh. And another of Sennacherib’ s sons, Esarhaddon, became the king of Assyria. BSB BSB: One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.