Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance (2 Kings 19:1–7)
1 WBS And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it , that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. BSB BSB: On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
2 WBS And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the 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 WBS And they said to him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 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 WBS It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. 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 WBS So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. BSB BSB: So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
6 WBS And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 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 WBS Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 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.’”
Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter (2 Kings 19:8–13)
8 WBS So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. BSB BSB: When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9 WBS And he heard it said concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it , he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 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 WBS Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 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 WBS Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 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 WBS Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 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 WBS Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? BSB BSB: Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer (2 Kings 19:14–19)
14 WBS And Hezekiah received 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. 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 WBS And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying, BSB BSB: And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD:
16 WBS O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 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 WBS Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living 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 WBS Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, BSB BSB: Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands.
19 WBS And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 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 WBS Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only. 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.”
Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied (2 Kings 19:20–34)
21 WBS Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: 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 WBS This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and derided thee; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 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 WBS Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted thy eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 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 WBS By thy servants hast thou reproached the LORD, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the hight of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir-trees: and I will enter into the hight of its border, and the forest of its Carmel. 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 WBS I have digged, and drank water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. 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 WBS Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldst be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 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 WBS Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it is grown up. 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 WBS But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. BSB BSB: But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.
29 WBS Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. 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 WBS And this shall be a sign to thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 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 WBS And the remnant that hath escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: BSB BSB: And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
32 WBS For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape from mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. 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 WBS Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a mound against it. 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 WBS By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. BSB BSB: He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city,’ declares the LORD.
35 WBS For I will defend this city, to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. BSB BSB: ‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35–37; 2 Chronicles 32:20–23)
36 WBS Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 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 WBS So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. BSB BSB: So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
38 WBS And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead. 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.